Project Description
Manrihyun Church is the combination of the new additional building with the existing old chapel. The site of the church is located at the old town of Seoul, where the densely populated residential buildings are gathered with the winding paths of the urban streets. The site is elongated shape through the streets and the condition of the hill side also made an interesting contrast by level changes of the surrounding narrow paths around the building.
In the ancient times, the castle wall of the Seoul which demarcate the boundary of the city usually existed at the ridge of the hill. Like those old castle wall, the church is located at the border line of the two districts. Longitudinal and curvaceous wall façade not only demarcate the inside and outside of the building but also recalls the memory of the existing site.
By remodeling the existing church and adding necessary spaces to the newly secured site, it looks like a newly constructed building on the surface. Surface of the wall symbolizes the paper of the scroll bible, and the pattern of openings in the surface of the wall symbolizes the scriptures. Lower part of the building is made of the glass curtain walls so that it is visually open to the surrounding neighborhood.
Thanks to the height variation of the surrounding site, this building can be accessed from several different levels of the street. The space of the different levels appeared both inside and outside in the grand lobby space.