Neighbourhood Living Architecture: Stacking Streets to Build Neighbourhoods: W.A.Y

SPACE September 2023 (No. 670)​

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Complexes vs Neighbourhoods 

Our cities have long been dominated by largescale housing developments in clusters, with an emphasis on providing an efficient housing infrastructure. While it has been a beneficial measure in many respects, including the provision of more green space, a range of convenient facilities, and improving narrow street networks, its side effects have also been notable. The problems can be recorded in various ways: spatial units in complexes are becoming exclusive to their surroundings; the vitality of urban streets that possess a variety of programmes is disappearing; and an urban spatial network that should unfold dynamically like networks of capillaries is being simplified and turned into a city centred on vehicular movement. For this reason, ‘neighbourhoods’ – small clusters of plots of land that have not yet become urbanised and retain their original character – are becoming increasingly important. Yeonnam-dong is where the privileging of small plots has remained unchanged for a long time, removing itself from the waves of large-scale development. The geometry of the land in Yeonnam-dong, where W.A.Y (We Are Yeon) is located, possesses characteristics that can only be found in a historic town. The land bordering the Gyeongui Line Railroad is an isomorphic shape, a natural collision of fields divided into a regular grid and farmland that was farmed near the Gyeongui Line Railroad until the 1970s. The site, which runs north-south, is about 7m wide, and the section bordering the road is cramped, with barely enough space for a vehicle entrance and a pedestrian walkway. Planning in line with these challenging site conditions, coupled with the architectural slant line limits for the daylight, left the architect with little room for manoeuvre, and we had to draw every line with a sense of its tension. 

Requirements When Building a Neighbourhoods 

A village shaped by small-scale residential and commercial complexes, which we often refer to as ‘neighbourhood living architecture’ or ‘flats with shops’, contains all kinds of functions to sustain daily life, like an all-in-one box. W.A.Y is a typical work of architecture, which, as usual for a small urban plot located in a Class Ⅱ general residential area, consists of a neighbourhood living facility on the lower floor and multifamily housing on its upper floor. Filling the daily environment of the last few villages generates vitality, chance encounters, and unexpected events that are difficult to provide in a complex city. However, despite the importance of its role, the built environment is often underfunded, making it difficult for cities to provide quality neighbourhood living architecture. Haphazardly planned piloti parking lots and enclosed spaces that do not consider their relationship with the street create an environment that does not fully embrace the daily life of a neighbourhood. In this project, we wanted to embody the possibilities of neighbourhood living architecture as neighbourhood-building architecture and set out three simple principles. The first is to improve the environment in the piloti parking lot. In order to install an attached parking lot on a small lot, which is required by law, the first floor space was inevitably configured as a piloti parking lot, which is a prime example of an area that negatively impacts a neighbourhood’s walkability. The underneath of the deep piloti creates dark shadows in the alleyways, and due to the nature of the cramped site, the street is used as a lane in which to park, with parked vehicles lined up facing the street. This is a significant factor in making the alleyway landscape uninviting to pedestrians. To improve this, W.A.Y keeps the parking lot’s lanes in the ground, despite losing area. In addition, the back of the parking lot is free of walls that block the view, and one side is a neighbourhood living facility with large windows facing the parking lot, creating a bright piloti parking lot. The hope is that the large parking lot area will become a small neighbourhood square in which various events, such as markets, can be held. Secondly, we tried to place neighbourhood living facilities with a good grounding on the first floor. This is an issue related to the piloti parking lot, where the convenience of the parking lot is often prioritised, and the first floor needs to be included or moved to the back of the piloti. First floor shops facing the alley are essential to maintaining a neighbourhood’s vibrancy and vitality. Although it is a small space of about 23m2 , we wanted to minimise the impact of the piloti parking lot by placing neighbourhood living facilities in a highly visible location for passers-by on the alley. To compensate for the cramped space, neighbourhood living facilities on the first floor are connected to the second floor via a staircase, which can be rented together. The third is to ensure that the neighbourhood streets are continuous within the building. W.A.Y has neighbourhood living facilities on the first and second floors and three houses on the third to the top floor. We wanted to create a sense of living in a neighbourhood that faces the street, not only on the first floor but also on the upper floors. To achieve this, we built up the streets that connect from the alleyways. The internal street is visible at the front of the building, so the daily flow of people using the building becomes a part of the village scenery. Despite the challenging site conditions, we also found room for a small semi-circular void that runs vertically through the interior path. This void draws light and space into the building on its journey from the interior street to each house, creating a sense of three-dimensional depth that makes the space feel larger than its actual size. 

The Reality of a Form That Comes from Constraints 

The form of a building reflects the constraints of the site and reveals the maximum amount of volume remaining. It took a lot of work to neatly organise the form due to the heterogeneity of the land and its complex relationship with the surrounding plots. Instead, I thought that if we accept these conditions and create an outline of the building, it will become the reality for ‘neighbourhood architecture’ itself. Finishing materials were limited to a light brown stucco exterior insulation system to help perceive the complex form as a single mass. Exposed concrete was chosen so that only the internalised horizontal sections would appear distinct. Neighbourhood living architecture is one of the essential responsibilities of architects, creating neighbourhoods that work as a counterpart to our increasingly complex urban lives and maintain a sense of balance in the urban environment. We look forward to seeing how the Yeonnam-dong project, W.A.Y, with its close connection to the alleyways, will play its role as a neighbourhood-building architecture. 

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You can see more information on the SPACE No. 670 (September 2023).​ ​