We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Unsangdong Architects about their original and creative Community center design work. Unsangdong Architects is an award-winning architectural designer, that makes our world a better place with their original community center works.
Unsangdong Architects ("UA") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Sopoong-gil Community Community center. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
UA : The main principle of the architecture is the 'ramp' and 'borderless community'. With the ramp with no boundary, various activities can take place with the needs of everyone who wishes to use it.
UA : Due to the small area of the site and small amount of the budget. So the main focus of in designing of this project was to minimize the area and the cost. The design method we discovered was to use wheelchair ramp, arccording to the building law, which is not included in the building area and floor area.
UA : We would like to introduce our work at other foreign countries and international publications. So many others can get interests towards our works.
UA : It took 2 months to design the concept.
UA : Our client is Nowon-district, government officials. We asked to build a community space, so the Nowon-district people can enjoy at the place. To create a community place with no boundary, we created vertical circulation that provides space for book shelves, rest area, seats for performances and so on. It was important architectural device that makes a mere functioning stiars to a continuous and extending community place with no boundary.
UA : Small architecture did not only applied the small programs. Due to the environment of the area, it was foremost that small and diverse programs coexist. The purpose of 'Sopoong-gil community' was not only the independence of the community space, but also the small community that greets the people of various classes greet each other, and the mutual understanding and the natural noise and the action meet each other.
UA : The client is Nowon-district government office, and target user is the people of Nowon-district.
UA : The ramp is more than a mere wheelchair ramp that extends all the way from the 1st floor to the roof top on the 3rd floor. It creates community space with no boundary and invites interactive connection with users' various choice. Especially the wall of the ramp becomes the gallery for the local people.
UA : The excursion route is naturally connected from the first floor to the second floor and from the third floor to the rooftop, which induces a variety of intricate communication by unlimited community space and user's intention and choice. The excursion path is a means of movement and an extension space for various communities and amplifies the relationship between the two. The scenery facing people in the excursion path is small, but it contains a natural and cozy sensibility that can not be seen anywhere. The image of a rustic excursion path is the innocence of the poet of heavenly poetry, the longing for the world of nature and humanism, and the way of imagination.
UA : We collaborated with Nowon-district government office. We tried best to design the urban renewal program that was not developed by government or local administration.
UA : The spatial strategy to overcome the physical environment of small architecture in a small land develops into a borderless community space. In this way, programs such as lobby, Sopoong-gil ramp, book cafe, performance hall, and group education room are linked not by fixed disconnection using walls but by mutual communication. The space is determined by the purpose and reason of the user and the size and usability are determined, and a variable environment is set up to form a borderless community where the actual communication between programs is more important than anything else.
UA : As we are one of the famous architecture group among Korea, we also wanted to introduce and publish our works to international designers.
