Gwangju Hanok
2024
Assemble, BC architects and studies, BC materials, and Atelier LUMA have collaborated with regional craftsmen, industrial partners, and local experts such as Kim Hyeongki from Chosun University, Yoon Jungwon from the University of Seoul and graduate students from their respective programs on the renewal of a small site in the residential neighbourhood of Dongmyeong-gong as part of the Architectural Biennale of Gwangju.
The project, titled Eco Hanok, aims to demonstrate the ways in which an alternative, ecological approach to construction that uses simple forms of building technology in combination with local resources and materials is not radical or fantastical, but is in fact deeply pragmatic.
The project also connects local resources and material streams to local industries to generate new kinds of economic value from existing landscapes, machinery and infrastructure
Materials such as oyster and abalone shells and marine kelp were processed and transformed into new building products in the form of plasters, panels and building blocks in conjunction with local partners in research and industry. We made use of the fabric and materials of the original building, using reclaimed earth and crushed hardstand in plaster, render and mortar mixes.
Through a process of recovery, re-use, and renovation, we rehabilitated a derelict single storey house—a traditional Korean Hanok—and established a small public garden with native planting and an outdoor oven.
Eco Hanok involved the careful repair and reconstruction of the building’s timber frame, the insulation of its walls and the treatment of its interior and exterior surfaces using earth, straw, rice husks and shells from the city's sizable seafood industry.
These ideas are quick to implement because rather than reimagining the way in which technology and materials might overhaul, supersede and replace an existing building culture and industry, they make use of the structures, skills and training that people within the building industry already possess.