Gallery

The Galleria is Korea’s first and largest upscale department store franchise founded in the 1970s, and has remained at the forefront of the premium retail market in the country since then. The store in Gwanggyo—a new town just south of Seoul—is the sixth branch of Galleria. Located at the center of this young urban development surrounded by tall residential towers, the Galleria’s stone-like appearance makes it a natural point of gravity for public life in Gwanggyo.

The Galleria is Korea’s first and largest upscale department store franchise founded in the 1970s, and has remained at the forefront of the premium retail market in the country since then. The store in Gwanggyo—a new town just south of Seoul—is the sixth branch of Galleria. Located at the center of this young urban development surrounded by tall residential towers, the Galleria’s stone-like appearance makes it a natural point of gravity for public life in Gwanggyo.

The Gijang Market as a traditional market is a special place where history and memory are kept. However, there is nowhere to look for its history and memory. For this reason, the stairs in the newly constructed commercial facilities was designed as an art gallery containing the history and memory of the traditional market. Anyone who visits the Gijang Market, will be able to find the history and memory of Gijang Market in this space through the lights and exhibitions hanging into the stairwell.

Along the banks of Shanghai’s Huangpu River, five decommissioned aviation fuel tanks once stood abandoned on an empty industrial site. Today, these tanks and the surrounding site—forgotten relics of the city’s former Longhua Airport—have been given new life and relevancy by OPEN Architecture. Over the course of six years, the five tanks were converted from waste containers to a vibrant contemporary art center, with galleries and other public spaces housed within the tanks themselves. One of the world’s rare examples of the adaptive re-use of aviation fuel tanks, Tank Shanghai has attracted millions of visitors since its opening in March 2019 and has solidified its place in the city’s contemporary art scene.

The concept of this F&B space is slightly different from general cafes or art galleries concept, which is more likely presented by an artistic way. Fundamentally the lengthy narrow shaped shop lot is hidden between buildings and alleys which is not given much natural sunlight. Thus, we tried to break through the ordinary narrow layout with more curvy and variable elements. We also do believe that a minimalist environment does not equal to simple and dull.

A gallery space for Kutani ware from the Kinzangama kiln. Mutan means a silent beginning. Creation free from the self.

Character Café & Gallery is located next to one of the main streets of Mehrshahr in Alborz province, with the area of 530 square meters.This old building was a two-stoery construction with poor infrastructure, a complex plan and numerous arched openings. Due to lack of budget and accelerated run-time, we tried to create the least amount of damage and alteration to the old building by applying a flexible idea and creating a new definition for the arch shaped openings. So we redefined Sabat which is an element of historical crossings of Yazd city in order to change the depth of opening and creating elongation in the form of arches.

The GIZI _Art Base is a single building tasked to house four different programs – a commercial space, a gallery, an office and a multi-family housing unit, each of which required a unique spatial definition appropriate to its needs and functions. While the ground floor commercial space demanded easy visual recognition and street access, the gallery, which on the other hand called for a more intimate and private setting for viewing and selling artwork, necessitated a more peripheral placement. The office space needed a calm atmosphere, and the individual residential units were asked to be both separately divided yet connected through a central courtyard. In order to accommodate the disparate and conflicting nature of these programs, each of the four was stacked vertically and unified into a singular mass.

Seongsu-dong, a neighborhood of new vitality that has brought new small shops to the existing urban fabric, is creating a self-sustaining cultural system. When I began the project, I had one question: ‘How does JUNG BLDG. adapt to such an environment?’ The client of the building, who runs a gallery and a boutique, often paints portraits of her ballerina daughter on canvas. She wanted architecture to be a container for family life, just as a painting captures the dynamism of human figures. Another requirement was that red brick would not be used in the new building. The client asked that the JUNG BLDG. would be distinct from the surrounding buildings, and that when one walks along from the main street to the alley the pathway would be connected to the site. The area, including the site of JUNG BLDG., north of the Seoul Forest, is now known as ‘Red Brick Village’ that partially supports construction costs. Nevertheless, the client preferred the use of concrete as opposed to red brick.