Merged Individuals- Zero boundary

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Merged Individuals

Zero Boundary
- Jaehyeong Yoo , Arai Rika, Juhong Park, Youngsoo Bae

2017. 07 - 08

For SEOUL BIENNALE OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

Project ‘Merged individuals’ attempts to get alienated individuals of ‘Gosiwon district’ in Sinlim-dong, Seoul, where single –person households make up the majority of the population, more involved in society. (A goshiwon is a very small room that students live in while studying for an important test, or if their normal home is far from their school.)

The biggest problems the residents of Gosiwon district face are loneliness, lack of leisure and diminishing communication. This project aims to resolve these issues using spatial methodology, and establish a foundation that alleviates various regional and societal problems caused by the particular circumstances of these people.

The vast majority of housing styles at Gosiwon District in Sinlim-dong are dwellings that accommodate one person, such as one-rooms and Gosiwons. These types of home often comes in very small sizes –ranging from 13 to 25 square meter which makes it difficult for residents to have satisfying leisure life, or to socialise. There are big and small shops and leisure facilities in this neighbourhood, however, residents still find it hard to relieve their emotional distresses through this current solution due to circumstantial reasons that aren’t quite simple – lack of money, lack of time and poor accessibility.

Moreover, students living in Gosiwon district spend most of their time at small desks in Gosi Hagwon (private institutes that provides tutoring to students who are studying for ‘Gosi’ exams, which could mean many different kinds of national exams in Korea.) and small desks that covers three sides. We thought this physical sense of confinement might be playing a key role in residents of Gosiwon district to develop feelings of isolation without them even knowing. Also, a desk might seem like a private and individual space, but when it is placed in a communal space full of other people where they keep on eye on each other, it no longer remains wholly individual.

Microscopically, this restriction on human body is a fundamental factor that gives rise to suppression of individuality and unapparent blockage of societal communication. In order to help people relieve sense of isolation, lack of communication and physical stress caused by these physical and spatial problems we have designed this pavilion.

" Reframing human body frame"

This pavilion has at its heart the aspiration to converse with other people through nonverbal means, for instance, sound. Each person get assigned one part of music and when more people come into the pavilion space and enjoy the space with others, harmony is created with the interaction between the music each person carries. Through this experience, people in the pavilion get to interact with each other without talking or writing. Music created by moving the body gives the person experiencing the space physical relaxation, and at the same time, makes the person recognize the presence of other people, gain sense of connection with other people that might not be so visible on a superficial level.