‘Hanbit Publishing Network’ Renovation / Idea5 Architects

Architects: Idea5 Architects
Location: 10-8 Yanghwa-ro 23-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Lead Architect: YoungRan Kang
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Kwang Sik JUNG

Structural Engineer: DONG YANG Co., Ltd
Mechanical Engineer: JEONG YEON Consulting Engineers Co., Ltd
Construction: DAEMYUNG21 Construction Co.,Ltd
Electrical Engineer: JEONG YEON Consulting Engineers Co., Ltd

Text description provided by the architects. The neighborhood of Gyeonguiline book street nearby Hongdae, one of the hottest places in Seoul, is where memories of young cafe culture and Indie Culture exist. 1,047 of about 4,120 publishers in Mapo-gu are concentrated in Hongdae. Reflecting the local feature, the book street has been formed with an outdoor library, a bookstore, a book cafe, and etc. based on the book theme. Hanbit Publishing Network is located on the hill near the beginning of Gyeonguiline Forest. The reason why it is built on the steep hillside area was intended to focus more on publishing in the relaxing environment by keeping its distance from a crowded place. On top of that, it was meant to be designed in harmony with neighbors and built as a base camp for publishers instead of showing its presence on the main street.

Remodeling 2 of the existing buildings instead of tearing down and building new ones, which used to be utilized as accounting lecturing classrooms, was also another reason. To reveal its identity through the hillside road shrouded in the skyscrapers, the buildings were treated with weathering steel cladding at a lower level on the corner. For the upper level of curtain wall, the high-density wood panel was installed vertically to present the direction of turning the pages. That lower public spaces and the path between buildings are filled with red bricks, makes streetscape brighten and helps people access to it easily. The buildings made of granite stone in 1997 were disconnected from surroundings because of its material limited accessibility from the street.

The buildings, which used to consist of classroom and reference room, are close to each other and have a very similar purpose of use. Nevertheless, circulation between the buildings was inconvenient and entrance recognition was considerably low. To increase accessibility from the street, remodeling was done by making a path and a bridge between the buildings. Securing an open space to communicate with the outside beside workspace was very important. The open space is used for a small classroom and education space communicating with readers. The public space on the 1st floor, which has a book cafe, a bookstore, and a gallery, is able to access with a staircase to highlight the facade of the buildings. By opening a path between buildings and backyard to the public, locals have come in and out frequently. It ended up encouraging the local community to vitalize the roadside.

1st floor is used as public space where you can utilize a book cafe, a gallery, and multipurpose hall connected to the path between buildings and backyard. This floor was designed to increase accessibility from the street and be a break area to help you experience surroundings during a break. 2nd floor is semi-public space built as a classroom for communication between readers, writers, and editors. For its convenience and expansion in the future, the buildings are connected by a bridge and linked with a conference room and podcast. For the sake of relaxation, the existing terrace on each floor is utilized and so is courtyard on the 4th floor. In order to separate workspace with book storage space, 1.5 meters wide layered book path creates for more space, and it helps ease tension from work. For comfort condition, the floor heating system is introduced to office floors.