SPACE June 2026 (No. 703)
The Uiseong Complex Historical and Cultural Space is a project that aims to retrace the significance of a place where different eras are juxtaposed and restore its historical value. It transformed a space with a strong sense of history of
top-down discipline, guidance, and suppression into a public place where local cultural values are exchanged, shared, and layered from the bottom up. The act of preserving a historical site should not be a process of restoration or taxidermy, but rather a way for us – living in the present moment – to engage with historical events through place, and maintain a continuous relationship with the past.
A Fragmentated Past
The site retained a hanok and a Japanese-style house, as well as a haphazardly extended warehouse. The entire area was once a central area where Uiseong’s government offices were located during the Joseon dynasty, and it is believed that the hanok was part of the Sangjeongso, an office responsible for administering and enforcing regulations. During the Japanese colonial period, the hanok was used as the Uiseong police station, and the Japanese-style house served as a place to torture anti-Japanese activists. Drawing on the sense of place associated with this oppression and resistance, the design competition called for a memorial hall that would reveal the historical narrative of the anti-Japanese movement centred on Pastor Ju Gi-cheol. The hanok originally featured a traditional layout that conformed to the flow of nature towards the stream to the south. However, the cluster was dismantled within the grid-like road network formed around it after the Japanese colonial period, leaving the hanok as a standalone building. Although it was repaired as a cultural heritage site in the 1960s, subsequent ch...
EMA Architects & Associates (Lee Eunkyung)
Eo Hyelyung, Cho Juhee, Yeo Yoonjeong
678-2, 678-3, 678-8 Hujuk-ri, Uiseong-eup, Uiseong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea
culture and assembly facility, neighbourhood living facility
1,404m²
479.58m²
702.62m²
3F
4
13.7m
34.15%
50.04%
timber structure, RC
Sto, zinc, granite
water-based paint, plaster wall, self-leveling mot
Winners BDG
Chung Lim Mechanical Engineering & Consultant
DK Electrical Engineering & Consulting Co. Ltd.
Saerom Engineering & Construction
May – Dec. 2020
Feb. 2023 – Jan. 2025
2.5 billion KRW
Uiseong-gun
OPENNESS STUDIO