SFS Elementary School Library

Seoul, Korea | 2019
[ AIA International Region Award | SPACE magazine feature | 매일경제 News  ]

The design for this international elementary school library blends flexibility with specificity, addressing the scales of growing children through the careful integration of architecture, furniture, and learning materials. Prior to renovation, the library functioned as a generic repository for books and desks. Though the existing building offered a generous floor-to-ceiling volume, covered curtain walls above and below created a low, pancake-like interior.

By addressing vertical dimensions at the personal scale, an ecosystem of customizable spaces for children and adults emerges. The odd outline of the existing floor plate became a starting-point clue. The north circular envelope houses a free-form area evoking an urban park, where modular, moveable semi-circular shelving creates zones for parents, teachers, and children to learn together. Adjacent to the glazing, a hammock mezzanine merges playground and library: canopy-like below, cloud-like above.

The rectangular south envelope lends itself to a denser ‘city block’ character. Book stacks with integrated desks act as reconfigurable building blocks for individual and collective study. Rising above this urban field, four reading towers amplify the micro-urban experience — their forms referencing historical structures and connecting the library with future memories. A large conference room with folding partitions can extend the library’s activities or close off into a private realm for faculty meetings.