SPACE June 2025 (No. 691)
©N.E.E.D. Architecture
FOURSTONES Samcheong, a large café, is situated deep in the alleyways of Samcheong-dong, bordering the prime minister’s official residence. Pre-visit information highlights a ‘floating volume’ as the project’s defining architectural expression, an impression grounded in three key design elements.
At first glance, what greets the visitor is a resolutely closed façade. Although the building faces Samcheong-ro to the east, it makes no effort to engage with the characteristic scenery of the old city. The architect has deliberately resisted placing windows on the sweeping curve of the exterior, refusing to compromise its curvature.
Second, the ceiling of the first floor serves as a luminous underside to the floating volume above. The gentle, 3m-high stairway at the entrance draws the gaze upwards to this glowing plane. Clad in a translucent material, the surface stretches seamlessly from outside to in, casting a soft, diffused light. As daylight wanes, this illuminated underbelly intensifies the visual paradox; the mass appears suspended, as if defying gravity.
©N.E.E.D. Architecture
©N.E.E.D. Architecture
Third, the columns on the first floor are deliberately pulled back from the corners. While many interpretations of the ‘floating volume’ rely on the glass at ground level and sharply articulated corners, this design softens the boundary by setting the columns inward. This subtle gesture required a refined structural strategy. The reinforced concrete slab of the second floor connects to the north-side concrete wall, distributing lateral forces and alleviating stress on the slender steel columns to the south. The architect refuses to turn a technical solution into a trophy, instead painting the columns a deep gray – neither...
N.E.E.D Architecture (Kim Sungwoo)
Kwun Suki, Oh Gahyun, Lee Seungwon, Oh Donghun
103-4, Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea
neighbourhood living facility (café)
687.09m²
201.57m²
702.36m²
B1, 3F
4
11.76m
29.34%
61%
RC, steel frame
long brick, granite
exposed concrete, curved ash wood
THEKUJO Engineering, Inc.
Hana Consulting Engineers Co.
YEZIIN CONSTRUCTION
May 2022 – Aug. 2023
Sep. 2023 – Feb. 2025
KCENC
Space Maker A1
Landscape Yeoleum (Yun Hojun)
Cho Hyeryeong, Lee Byungwoo