SPACE January 2026 (No. 698)
Winning proposal of Tongin Market Design Innovation – An Invited Design Competition for the Traditional Market ©Jiyo Architects
On Nov. 12, the winning entry of the Tongin Market Design Innovation – An Invited Design Competition for the Traditional Market was anounced. Hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the competition was reissued after the previous competition held from Feb. 28 to June 25, which failed to select a winning proposal (covered in SPACE No. 693). This renewed competition sought a direction of interpretation and renewal that could respond to contemporary demands while respecting the historical value and sense of place of Tongin Market. The winning proposal by Jiyo Architects (Principal, Kim Sejin), was based on the principle of preserving the existing Tongin Market Artgate. The new gable-roof arcade structure acknowledges the complexity of the exiswting arcade environment as it is, retaining the irregular column grid, while introducing a 600mm-wide ‘ㅍ’-shaped steel beam. Kim Sejin stated, ‘This competition posed a question about what defines Tongin Market’s unique identity compared to other retail or market facilities, and how our concept and plan can be realised on-site.’ He also remarked that ‘It was important to sustain the vitality generated by over 80 individual shops that each reveal their own character yet remain interconnected. Traditional markets including Tongin Market cannot be confined to a single design code. I hoped that the existing shops and the new arcade could coexist within a loose system, where the layers of past and future overlap.’ He noted, ‘My first impression of Tongjin Market’s arcade on site was that it resembled a complex mechanical apparatus,’ adding that the proposal appears to have been well received for ‘its attempt to address such urban infrastructure in an objective and pragmatic manner, and to understand the project simultaneously as a dynamic “market” and an old “alleyway” of Seochon’.
