Daejeon is a transportation hub that connects the south and north, east and west of Korea by rail. If you go out from Daejeon Station in the downtown area towards the East Plaza, you will unexpectedly encounter a quiet and quiet scene. There are plenty of parking lots and railroads, and a road that has already been widened to a six-lane road for an apartment complex to be built soon. And beyond that, old houses are attached to each other.

At first glance, it looks like you've stepped back in time in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, there were more Japanese-style houses where people who worked in the railroad industry lived in the area around Daejeon Station. However, as time passed, all of them disappeared, and now more than 40 buildings remain as traces of the East official residencial Village.

In other words, Soje-dong is like a dot. It was in the middle of the Great War, but not many people knew about it. Even those who lived in Daejeon for a long time were not aware that there was such a neighborhood right next to Daejeon Station. The days when there were Japanese articles became a place of memory that was folded and stacked and stored in drawers.

Designing a new building in such a place is very meaningful, but it can also be overwhelming. The context of time and the context of memory constantly penetrate into the plan. The land on which the house is to be built is located on the outskirts of the main road, where traces of the old neighborhood still remain, so to speak, like the shell of the neighborhood. On the other side of the road, a huge new residential complex will be built, and behind it is a neighborhood with more than 100 years of history .

As the land was divided due to the widening of the road, the original building was demolished, and a new building had to be constructed. The area of the site was not very large, but it was wide and shallow. The second floor is a commercial facility, including the client's office, and the third floor is a residence. A three-story building cannot be called tall, but it was bound to be a tall building compared to the overall height of the surrounding area. Therefore, the impression of the building was softened with bright colors, and the scale of the building was reduced through various openings and openings of the staircase that open diagonally.

As a way to keep the existing urban context alive, a path to the building was created in the foreground. The exterior staircase leading to each floor can be tucked inside or turned into a corner unnoticed, but it has been pulled to the front of the building so that you can enjoy the surrounding scenery every time you go up and down. The staircase digs into the side of the building and has become an important design element that influences the façade as well as the purpose of movement. As they climb the outdoor stairs that bring the building to life , users continue to encounter the scenery in different directions, and each point of view reflects a neighborhood where the past and the present are mixed.

On the left side of the building's façade, there is a staircase that goes around the building, and on the right, there is a small balcony protruding from the area facing the main station. One can have a moving gaze and the other can have a stationary gaze. The mere inclusion of a white building in a neutral neighborhood created an image that seemed to contrast the past and the present.

It is said that before the establishment of the official village in Soje-dong, there was originally a lake called "Soje Lake" and a mountain called "Solangsan Mountain". The name of the building that connects the memories of the past with the present time, and watches the changes in the city, is 'Soje-Solang'.

Project Overview
Architect : Hyoungnam Lim, Eunjoo Roh in studio_GAON
Project Team : Sungpil Lee, Seongwon Son
Photographs : Youngchae Park
Location : : 86, Donggwangjang-ro, Dong-gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
Construction : Geum Gang Construction Co., LTD