Seongsan-dong Mixed-Use Building by a round architects: A Contemporary Architectural Dialogue with Seoul’s Historic Neig

The Seongsan-dong Mixed-Use Building, designed by a round architects, presents a thoughtful example of contextual urban architecture in the historic neighborhood of Mapo-gu, South Korea. Completed in 2021 and covering an area of approximately 327 square meters, this project blends residential living, creative workspace, and rental offices within a compact urban structure.

Rather than imposing a radically new form, the architects focused on establishing a sensitive architectural relationship with the surrounding traditional buildings. By studying the spatial and material characteristics of older structures in the neighborhood, the design translates historical elements into a contemporary architectural language. The result is a carefully integrated mixed-use building that respects the existing urban fabric while introducing modern spatial dynamics.

Understanding the Urban Context and Architectural Continuity

Designing within older neighborhoods often requires a delicate balance between preservation and innovation. In the case of the Seongsan-dong project, the architects began by analyzing the architectural elements that define the local identity. These included the approach to traditional houses, the relationship between buildings and gardens, the role of fences, exterior material textures, and roof forms.

Instead of directly replicating these elements, the architects metaphorically interpreted them in the new structure. This approach allowed the building to feel visually and culturally connected to its surroundings, while still expressing a contemporary architectural character.

The building’s dark split-brick façade plays a critical role in this dialogue with the neighborhood. Brick is a familiar material in many Korean urban contexts, but here it is reinterpreted through texture, depth, and light interaction, creating a façade that changes subtly throughout the day.

Mixed-Use Spatial Organization: Integrating Work and Living

The building’s program reflects a carefully structured mixed-use layout that accommodates professional, commercial, and residential functions.

The first floor is dedicated to the client’s design office, providing a creative workspace that connects directly to the street and the surrounding neighborhood. This level serves as the public-facing component of the building, encouraging professional engagement and accessibility.

The second and third floors are designed as rental office spaces, offering flexible environments suitable for small businesses, studios, or creative professionals. These floors help activate the building economically while contributing to the local professional ecosystem.

The fourth and fifth floors form the private residential space of the client, offering a retreat above the active working environments below. This layered vertical arrangement allows the building to function as both a live-work architecture model and a micro-scale urban ecosystem.

Furniture-Informed Design: Architecture Shaped by Lifestyle

One of the unique aspects of the project is the integration of the client’s existing furniture into the architectural planning process. Rather than designing the interiors independently and adding furniture later, the architects incorporated the client’s furniture collection during the early design stages.

This approach influenced spatial dimensions, room layouts, and circulation patterns, ensuring that the interiors felt natural and personalized. By designing around furniture already familiar to the client, the architects created spaces that reflect daily habits, comfort, and personal identity.

This strategy highlights the importance of human-centered architecture, where design begins with the lifestyle and needs of occupants rather than purely aesthetic considerations.

Circulation and Spatial Transition: The Central Staircase Concept

A defining architectural element of the Seongsan-dong building is its centralized staircase system, which organizes the circulation of the entire structure.

Because the rental office floors needed to be functionally separated, the architects placed the staircase at the center of the building. However, rather than treating it as a purely functional core, they transformed the staircase and connecting corridors into dynamic spatial experiences.

The corridor leading to the staircase gradually introduces visitors to a three-dimensional spatial transition, where volumes, light, and perspectives shift subtly as one moves through the building. This creates a sense of movement and discovery, elevating everyday circulation into an architectural experience.

Additionally, the staircase leading to the residential floors was externalized, creating a clear distinction between professional workspace areas and private living spaces. This separation enhances privacy while reinforcing the building’s layered program.

Material Expression: The Role of Dark Split Brick

The exterior façade is defined by dark split brick, chosen both for its material familiarity and its expressive potential.

This brick surface establishes a visual connection with nearby structures while introducing a refined texture that responds to environmental conditions. Depending on sunlight, humidity, and shadow, the façade changes appearance throughout the day.

The material’s ability to retain moisture and interact with natural light adds depth and character to the building’s exterior. Over time, the façade will continue to evolve, allowing the building to develop a living architectural presence within the neighborhood.

Privacy and Form: A Protective Architectural Envelope

The client’s request for greater residential privacy significantly influenced the building’s overall form. As a result, the structure adopts a relatively closed exterior expression, limiting direct visibility into interior spaces from the street.

While the façade appears restrained from the outside, the interior spaces remain bright and open, demonstrating how architecture can balance privacy with internal spatial richness.

This duality reflects a common challenge in dense urban environments, where buildings must protect personal life while maintaining comfortable, light-filled living spaces.

Light as an Architectural Element

Natural light plays a crucial role in activating the building’s interior spaces.

The gable roof design incorporates high side windows, allowing daylight to penetrate deep into the structure. Light travels vertically through three floors of the residence, transforming otherwise static interior spaces into dynamic environments.

As sunlight shifts throughout the day, it produces changing shadows and reflections across walls, floors, and surfaces. This approach emphasizes the importance of light-driven architecture, where illumination becomes a central design tool rather than a secondary feature.

Rooftop Terrace: Urban Relaxation and Green Space

At the top of the building, the architects designed a rooftop terrace that functions as a private relaxation area. In dense urban settings like Seoul, outdoor spaces are often limited, making rooftop environments valuable extensions of living space.

The terrace allows residents to grow plants, enjoy fresh air, and experience a moment of calm above the city. It acts as a transitional zone between architecture and nature, providing a small but meaningful urban garden environment.

This feature highlights the importance of biophilic design principles, which introduce natural elements into architecture to improve well-being and spatial comfort.

A Building That Contributes to Neighborhood Identity

Ultimately, the Seongsan-dong Mixed-Use Building is more than a functional combination of office and residential spaces. It is a project that actively engages with its urban context, cultural environment, and architectural history.

Through careful material selection, spatial planning, and contextual design strategies, a round architects created a building that feels both contemporary and deeply connected to its surroundings.

The architects hope that the building will gradually become a recognizable element of the neighborhood, contributing to its evolving architectural identity while maintaining respect for its historical character.

In doing so, the project demonstrates how small-scale mixed-use architecture can play a meaningful role in shaping urban memory and community experience.

All photograhs are works of  Choi Jinbo