UOS Centennial Memorial Hall

The UOS Centennial Memorial Hall (hereinafter Centennial Memorial Hall) is a multi-purpose campus building at the University of Seoul. This project began with a question – what is the socially desirable role of the campus building in the local community? It is the outcome of this extensive contemplation over what kind of place a campus can be in the community that has cultivated a certain attitude: architecture caters to the needs of the university members as well as being open to its neighbourhood.

The Centennial Memorial Hall is located on the campus boundary, where once a brick-built music building and an old-fashioned gym stood, bordering low-rise houses and a small green area. As a way of respecting these memories and celebrating the University’s centennial, the green area was maintained and bricks were used in a part of the new building, particularly on the former site of the music hall. The Centennial Memorial Hall is a single building that accommodates various programmes of different sizes and heights: the centennial memorial hall, gym, conference hall, classrooms, and public library. In order to solve these complex requirements, varied facilities are arranged vertically on the south-facing sloped terrain; a large and high-volume facilities – conference hall, gym – are housed on the lower part of the building; classrooms, public library, a relatively small facilities that require natural lighting and ventilation are placed at the upper part which is divided into three masses above ground. Each facility can be accessed through a large concrete, groundlevel deck. This 100m-long 55m-wide deck, which connects three masses, is an outdoor platform that introduces the surrounding natural landscape into the campus and also serves a public space of the local community. The volumes and materials of each of the masses are determined with consideration for their harmony with the nearby campus buildings, so that the Centennial Memorial Hall could blend into the campus in a natural way. The level of the deck is planned at a lower level than that of the formerly gym building, minimising the negative effects on the nearby housing area.​