Blind Alley Combined Use Construction / LJL Architects


Textual content description equipped through the architects. Every so often, you could have to make a choice an alternate trail to evolve to converting eventualities that appear unavoidable. This can be a tale about coping with the feared scenario of design adjustments whilst making plans a constructing. The constructing in query is a yŏnwajo (conventional Korean tiled-roof space) built in 1969, in the beginning serving because the place of abode of the mayor of Yongsan District on the time. Regardless of its age, the home stays in just right situation, similar to the standard black-tiled yŏnwa-jo often noticed within the house. The design procedure started with the goal of enlargement and reworking that competitors new building.


The preliminary plan was once an formidable enterprise to increase the constructing through including two flooring with strengthened metal framing, in the end using a complete of 5 flooring, together with the basement, for respectable functions. Then again, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an important aid within the large-scale financial stimulus measures, overshadowing the unique plan. Swift fluctuations in rates of interest and more than a few monetary setbacks inside the monetary sector ensued, ensuing within the architects receiving understand from the in the beginning organized monetary establishment that further loans had been not to be had. The gang of person traders who had been the house owners had already invested substantial capital into actual property acquisitions. Because of this, the development price range was once lowered to an insignificant quarter of the unique.




Slightly than sticking to the unique plan of increasing the dimensions, the architects needed to discover choices that may reduce renovation whilst maximizing the usage of present components, all whilst accommodating the present constructing. In this kind of scenario, the architects had restricted possible choices. It could have crossed the constructing house owners’ minds to desert the undertaking altogether, however their nature made such an possibility unappealing. Due to this fact, whilst decreasing the to start with agreed-upon design charges, they searched for methods to search out function amidst the perplexing scenario.



In the long run, the focal point shifted in opposition to the price of rejuvenation. The purpose was once to revamp components that had been in solidarity with the aim of the distance and aligned with sensible utilization. Given the restrictions of our environment, the place there was once no room for added installations, the emphasis was once on stripping away and emptying, which, counterintuitively, turned into the present theme. Each inside and external wall surfaces had been handled through putting off finishes, coatings, and paint, revealing the uncooked nature of the distance. The marks of transformation, corresponding to lines or relics, had been integrated into the weather of the finishes. The present external wrought-iron railing, having obstructed the top of a slim alley, was once dismantled and reconstructed, making a recent new streetscape within the cul-de-sac.
