In Seoul, Bikyoshoki is a 4 story mixe-used building designed by Jae K. Kim of Counter-Design (Architecture CODE) to accommodate a bar, café and apartment.

The goal of this project is to make people to have a similar experience to climbing a small mountain through their movement in relation to architectural form and space.

Jae K. Kim, founder of Counter-Design

Bikyoshoki, image courtesy Counter-Design

Bikyoshoki - Sectional axo, drawing courtesy Counter-Design

+ Project description by Jae K. Kim

Experiential Dynamics of Human Movement

The project is a four-story multi-functional building with commercial programs and rooftop housing, a common building prototype in Seoul. The program includes a bar in the basement, a café on the first, second, and third floors, and rooftop housing which can be transformed to expand the café if needed.

Bikyoshoki, image courtesy Counter-Design

The goal of this project is to make people to have a similar experience to climbing a small mountain through their movement in relation to architectural form and space. In this way, the project creates a domestic journey in the small scale building of a highly dense urban area. Through internal and external stair ways, bridges, corridors, and a rooftop deck, people can experience the inside and the outside continuously and perceive a framed view through an opening. Furthermore, people from the public realm– the street– can have visual interconnection between the inside and outside of the building through openings, balconies, and the external staircase which project internal programs and movements to the outside.

Bikyoshoki, image courtesy Counter-Design

Entering the first hall from the street, one confronts the roughness of the concrete in the circulation space, which is more emotional with natural light through an aperture. On the contrary, inside the building, in the café, there is a distinct atmosphere with white painted walls from the circulation space with the concrete. In addition, spatial contrast between the austere circulation space and the open spaces of the café, having a higher ceiling, provide totally different experience to people in terms of materiality as well as the perception of space. Finally, a roof-top deck, the destination of a journey, has a broad open view to the urban landscape.

Bikyoshoki - Floor plans, drawing courtesy Counter-Design

Bikyoshoki - Spatial diversity diagram, drawing courtesy Counter-Design

+ Project credits / data

Project: Bikyoshoki, a commercial building in Seoul.
Typology: Mixed Use
Design: Jae K. Kim |  Counter-Design | Architecture CODE |  http://www.counter-design.com
Location: Seoul, Korea

+ All images and drawings courtesy Counter-Design

Olia Saunders is a versatile artist specializing high quality graphic designs suitable for textiles and apparel, home design and furnishings and other various products.

She was raised in Saint Petersburg / Russia, but spent half of her life extensively living and traveling throughout Europe charging her mind with bits of impressions in a sea of endless inspirations. The love of art, music, architecture and cinema continuously influences and shapes her vision, but more often she is inspired by seemingly ordinary fragments of every day life – captured by the camera and transformed by different techniques, those result in the most unexpected works. Her compositions are vivid and imaginative, mesmerizing and striking in their realization.

Olia constantly experiments with variety of newest platforms of digital art and graphic design. She believes these tools open new depths for creativity and self-expression for artists and photographers in the new century. The designs she creates – unique prints, can be produces in large size format and can bring special appeal to a variety of products making them stand out on the market and generate attention of the consumers.

She has got the degrees in Art History and Photo & Graphic Design, speaks fluently four languages and currently lives and works as freelance in New York.

+ Designer: Olia Saunders | http://www.oliasaunders.info/

image courtesy Olia Saunders

image courtesy Olia Saunders

image courtesy Olia Saunders

image courtesy Olia Saunders

Eriksen Skajaa Architects did an urban study for the municipality of Askøy at the west coast of Norway. Its a development of an old industrial site by the harbor into dwellings. Eriksen Skajaa Architects worked with the existing qualities in the harbour and made a dense conglomeration of wooden houses with a wide range of public spaces.

Strusshamn has a lot of different public services and mainly small-scale cultural activity. A combination of culture production and maritime culture can give Strusshamn the uniqueness that is needed to turn the place into both a good place to live and an interesting destination.

Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Strusshamn, render courtesy Eriksen Skajaa Architects

+ Project description by Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Strusshamn is a settlement on the southwest side of Askøy, an island outside of Bergen on the west coast of Norway, with strong ties to the ocean. The fjord was used for transport due to lack of roads and it was an important economic resource. When this changed and the car became the most important way of communication two centres developed without a clear connection to each other.

The site in Strusshamn is a former boat building factory for Viksund Boats that was bought by the municipality to make a new zoning plan to avoid heavy industry to be established in the future in the old, preserved harbour environment. In our study we are looking for a way to connect the two parts of Strusshamn. By simple means like improving and defining different surfaces, re-establishing a hidden river, and introducing public spaces of different character we redefine Strusshamn and prepare for the integration of the new development at the Viksund site.

Strusshamn, render courtesy Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Strusshamn, render courtesy Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Strusshamn has a lot of different public services and mainly small-scale cultural activity. A combination of culture production and maritime culture can give Strusshamn the uniqueness that is needed to turn the place into both a good place to live and an interesting destination. We have introduced small culture “boathouses” that will make a supplement to the housing as artist's studios and small shops. They will provide public life and reintroduce small-scale commerce to this once so lively harbour area. The culture “boathouses” can be rented separately or combined to make larger units.

The study examines three different combinations of density and program on the site, but with a similar layout and approach to the site. The layout is based on analysis of climate and landscape with an aim to create good public spaces and buildings with access to light and the spectacular view the landscape offers. A continuous public space with piers, public spaces, a promenade and backyards attach the new development to the rest of Strusshamn. A central canal on the site connects the two parts of the site together and increases the quality of both and this way not only the houses on the waterfront have access to the qualities of the harbour environment. Towards the fjord to the south lies a large public space for the whole of Strusshamn.

The new development is based on the historical buildings in Strusshamn. Small volumes that sometimes grow together and create larger units characterize the historical buildings. The buildings are close to the water and create spaces between that vary in size and quality. With those aspects in mind, the new development is a continuation and extension of the historical place, while at the same time demonstrating the possibilities of developing these kinds of sites into areas with more dense or urban structures.

Strusshamn - Situation plan, drawing courtesy Eriksen Skajaa Architects

Strusshamn - Section, drawing courtesy Eriksen Skajaa Architects

+ Project credits / data

Project: Strussham
Architect: Eriksen Skajaa Architects | http://www.eriksenskajaa.no
Location: Strusshamn, Norway
Site: 10 000m2
Client: Askøy Kommunale Eiendomsselskap
Year: 2011
Project Team: Joakim Skajaa, Arild Eriksen and Nora Aursand Iversen.
Collaboration: Bjørbekk og Lindheim Landscape Architects,  Bygganalyse AS
Illustrations: Eriksen Skajaa Architects and Mir Visuals

+ All images and drawings courtesy of Eriksen Skajaa Architects