Residence Hall of Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary

LOCATION
Seoul, South Korea

Text description provided by architect.

The campus of the Presbyterian University is located in the foothills of Acha-san overlooking the Han River.

Despite its location at the urban center, the surrounding environment gives the campus a ‘retreat’ (피정, 避靜) atmosphere due to the wooded forest. In consideration of the campus’ size, the high proportion of the dormitory occupied could be considered as one of the university’s characteristics.

The new seminary hall was placed in replacement of the demolished previous seminary hall. The spaces needed in the campus, such as the professors’ laboratory and club rooms, were combined within the space program and placed in this seminary hall.

SEMINARY-SPIRIT

The design started from the construction of the smallest unit of the seminary: the dormitory. Seminary hall of the Presbyterian University, a religious institution, was founded from its differences with the recently built university seminary halls.

The trend of the recent seminary halls focuses on convenience and privacy, accommodates small groups of people in their dormitory units and has separate bathrooms.

The key of this design challenge was to design a pleasant seminary where the multi-room units were distributed among the spaces available, without altering the required space. Moreover, what was hoped from the university was to build a residence hall with spiritual fullness.

The courtyards' curtain wall windows solved issues of natural ventilation and lighting. Also, by facing the resident rooms’ corridors to the courtyard, the spaces within could keep a pleasant environment.

The outdoor stairs in the courtyard were connected to the circulation flow in the rear of the building. From the outside, people can look students walking or resting in the stairs.

Rooms that students use frequently such as, club room and fitness center were located in the basement due to the building height restrictions, but doorways to the ground floor and window were installed all around for sunlight and circulation.

The traditional finishing brick covered the entire exterior and by adding details such as projected parts and retreated curtain wall windows, two meanings were delivered: the coexistence of the past and the future, and the unity of diversity.

Unlike the exterior finish, the finishing materials of the courtyards were given a livelier image by adding curtain wall windows, exposing the interior corridor to the outside.

Furthermore, this particular space was intended to be a medium for the users, in order to give a feeling of community connection between the outside and the inside.

Campus-facing residents’ room with balconies, used as laundry drying and multi-purpose space, consisted of an interior double-walled structure in consideration with the aesthetics.

In the opposite façade, the balconies were projected to enable views of the forests and the river. The end of the mass and part of the elevation are viewed from the campus entrance, leaving an impression to the students.