SPACE February 2025 (No. 687)
Situated within the hanok village of Ulju-gun, Ulsan-si, this site had long belonged to nature, untouched by human hands, but was scheduled to become a part of the hanok district amidst the frenzy of development led by local government. Due to a prolonged period of limited development controlled by private sector agents, following the construction of a neighbouring hanok village to the North, the site was left disconnected by a reinforced stone wall after the lift of building restrictions. These artificial interventions erased the natural hilly appearance of the site, and which has been slowly deserted. The ochre-coloured soil exposed by the civic works during our first site visit seemed to only further entrench the scars of development. Yet the west reservoir, Golan-mot Pond’s trough, reflected the autumn colours of Gounsan Mountain in October. It was as if nature, with the forest, rocky outcrops, and expanses of water, was trying to heal the scars that etch this site.
Sangbuk-myeon, Ulju-gun is located in Goheonsan Mountain, one of the seven mountains of the Youngnam Alps. Boasting a beautiful landscape with rugged peaks and diverse vegetation, Gounsan Mountain is a favourite destination for urbanites who long for nature, as it offers hikers the unique experience of not only climbing a mountain but also discovering traces left by nature. This was the reason we decided to opt for interpreting the site through tracing the temporal changes in nature, rather than reading urban contexts. We decided that the site should be a place in which nature and human life can co-exist and interact with one another, and not just stand as a place for a facility.
We are currently witnessing the expansion of the café into a space for various social and cultural experiences beyond the simple act of drinking tea. To go beyond the format of a suburban café, we aimed to create a place that would listen to the stories of nature. This spatial and programmatic proposal starts with the restoration of the Gounsan Mountain, the natural landscape, and its neighbouring elements.
