SPACE April 2026 (No. 701)
©Bang Yukyung
Railway City and Railway Quarters
My connection with Soje-dong began while teaching a university design studio on adaptive reuse. While searching for a site for students to research, I was introduced to Soje-dong through a building owner based in Daejeon. Soje-dong, located in Dong-gu, Daejeon, was originally a place where Sojeho Lake once existed. In the early 1900s, during the Japanese colonial period, the lake was filled in to make way for the railway, and Daedongcheon Stream was redirected to flow parallel to the railway tracks. Soje-dong developed into one of the residential districts for railway workers that formed around Daejeon Station. As the largest surviving railway quarters in Korea, the area retains many of its original architectural and spatial characteristics, giving it significant historical and cultural value. In the 2010s, the area began to revive as artists moved in and established a creative base called Soje Creating Community Residency. Wooden houses more than a century old coexist with renovated buildings, and the once-stagnant neighbourhood was transformed into a major destination attracting tens of thousands of visitors a day, supported by events such as the Artbelt and the Bakery Festival. As of 2020, the Daejeon Station District Development Project began to move forward. With plans underway to construct mixed-use residential and office complexes ranging from 30 to 70 stories around Soje-dong, the surrounding roads and tram lines are currently being reorganised.
