Project : Architecture

SFS Middle Years Library

Seoul, Korea | 2018
[ AIA International Award | SPACE magazine feature ]

This design for an international middle school library adaptively transforms the closed-off ground floor of a 35-year-old classroom building into a light, porous learning space tied to the larger campus. Historically used as an open pilotis parking lot and later a cramped IT office, the footprint remained fragmented by a non-relocatable server room. The interior design addresses these constraints through a “building-within-a-building” strategy.

From reading bunks and bay window seating to group study rooms and a large collaborative hall, a range of nested scales links individual students to the school’s collective. This ecosystem of diverse spaces—including a dark corridor repurposed as a “secret library”—allows students to curate their own experiences and discover their own unique ways of learning.

Library Garden: Exterior and interior reading areas intersect.
Site Plan: The interior extends to the campus via a library garden.
Thickened Walls: Occupiable walls and bay window pavilions pull the landscape inside for an immersive experience.
Reading Carrels: Facing the collective garden, this narrow space becomes a flexible series of reading nooks.
Alone Together: Even as a passage, these nooks allow students to claim private space within the library’s public life.
Fragments of a Whole: Interior reading carrels extend into the garden.
Immersed in Books: Blending domestic and institutional scales, reading carrels are nested within a curated collection of new boo
Buildings within Buildings: Nested scales between individual and community are expressed as unique, internal “buildings.”
Floor Plan: Programs wrap a fixed server room as “buildings within a building.”
Interior Urbanism: Sliding and swing doors create a porch-like shared space that doubles as an energy-saving thermal buffer.
Collaboration Space: In this multi-purpose room, salvaged semi-circular couches allow for varied seating. Meeting rooms overlook the space like an urban plaza, while diverse lighting supports individual expression within the collective.
Server Room: The server room is reimagined as a futuristic, blue-lit chamber. A matching reading nook blends into this tech-driven aesthetic, while tungsten-style LED “idea bulbs” offer a warm contrast between future and past.
Interior Elevations
Greenscreen Room: Shared with the adjacent FabLab, this room serves as an additional creative asset for library programming.
Book Stacks: By arranging salvaged bookshelves circumferentially rather than in rows, a new central reading area is created—a nested space achieved without losing storage capacity.
Reading Bunks: Private bunks offer a personal way to share books with friends.
Reading Bunks: Reclaiming corner dead space, these double-story nooks provide unique areas to read, study, and play.
Observation: Discreetly positioned mirrored glass replaces obtrusive CCTV, allowing librarians to monitor students.
Secret Library: Repurposed storage becomes a hidden comic book vault. Mirrored stainless steel reflects half-arch lighting to create the illusion of a full, vaulted space.
Bay Windows and Garden Deck: Recessed seating aligns the interior floor with the exterior ground for a seamless transition.
Sustainability & Energy: With only one exposure, specific LED “ecosystems” and birch plywood light-wells reflect daylight deep into the interior. Eight HVAC micro-zones allow for seasonal, on-demand climate control, while a triple-filtration system manages high levels of airborne dust.
Entry Micro-garden: The entry vestibule and circulation desk “plug into” the existing structure, featuring an indoor/outdoor garden that brings the landscape inside.
Existing Facade: Previously dark and partially underground, the original facade remained closed off from its surroundings.

Architect
John Hong AIA, LEED AP (principal in charge)
Youngju Lee (Project Manager), Seungjae Kang, Hyein Kim, Jinwook Jang (design team)

Contractor
Cplus Design Co., Ltd.

Mechanical and Electrical Engineer
Myungbo Air

Photography
P:A

Project Info
Location: Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea
Program: Library
Area: 302 m² exterior + 132 m² exterior

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