The project consists of the rehabilitation of the Sewoon Market building in Seoul. The building is 1 km long and is divided into 4 parts. It is mainly used for small local artisans and housing, and its future is very much in question. Our project consists of the rehabilitation of a section of the building into a factory for recycling plastic medical waste into furniture, participating in the circular economy. The recycling process is designed to emphasize the social aspect by including the public through different workshops and integrating local metal/electronic artisans while providing additional work spaces inside the Sewoon building, in order to ensure a proximity of interaction and collaboration with these professionals who are essential to the functioning of the industry.
Regarding the architectural intentions of the project: we started from the existing concrete structure and developed a secondary metal structure, the scaffolding, which dialogues with the existing frame. We kept the slabs depending on the spatial needs of each occupant. We wanted to separate the heavy industry space from the other activities within the building, while keeping some connection between the two to allow for this collaboration between the public, artisans, designers, and industry. The placement of a scaffolding responds to these needs and allows the articulation of the different spaces and ensures their accessibility. The latter, placed in the void, becomes a public space. The functional spaces are arranged only machines, workbenches, and offices (conservation of slabs). The transition between these two spaces is managed by the scaffolding interface, filled with recycled plastic platforms, which becomes a buffer zone used as a storage area.
The entire scaffolding becomes a showroom of the different processes that take place in the building, making the architectural walk to the roof attractive. The metallic structure inhabits the building in all its height in a flexible and modular way allowing a constant evolution of the programs.