In Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, a church built more than 30 years ago had long stood vacant between two narrow alleys. Its original brick form had gradually been obscured by a series of later alterations such as a metal roof and exterior steel stairs. Glitter Hall retains the existing structural frame while removing these additions and reorganizing the interior. The former church is transformed into a mixed-use building containing a home for a family of four, along with a café and mathematics academy operated by the family.
The name of the project, "hall" reflects the project’s intended relationship with its surroundings. Although privately owned, the building remains open enough for neighbors, students, and visitors to enter, pass through, and linger naturally.
Ground Floor: Connecting Different Daily Lives
The original building housed clergy quarters on the ground floor and a worship hall above. The new program reverses this arrangement: the café and academy occupy the ground floor, while the family home extends across the entire second floor.
Separate entrances prevent the building’s commercial and residential activities from interfering with one another. The café and academy are accessed directly from different sides of the building, while the residence has its own entrance connected to an interior stairwell. These multiple points of entry, together with the semi-outdoor areas, reconnect a long-closed religious facility with the everyday life of the neighborhood.
One structural bay was opened to create a deep, sheltered space beneath the eaves. Part café terrace and part resting place for passersby, it belongs neither entirely to the public realm nor to the private domain. Inside the café, the existing concrete columns, beams, and ceiling have been exposed, allowing the old structure and new furniture to coexist. Large windows frame views of the surrounding fields and trees.
The academy, by contrast, uses timber furniture and finishes to create a warmer atmosphere. Floor-to-ceiling glass writing boards become ever-changing notebooks on which students can freely record, erase, and develop their ideas.
Horizontal Layers, Reflective Vertical Volumes
Removing the later additions and concealing exposed plumbing simplified the building’s overall form. Ivory stucco wraps the main volume, while thin horizontal eaves mark the boundaries between floors and programs. These lines visually divide the building into distinct layers and bring its scale closer to that of the surrounding alleys.
Along the stairwell and at key corners, selected vertical volumes are clad in glass mosaic tiles that changes in color and texture according to the light and weather. The material was inspired by glitter of the nearby Donggang River known for its beautiful scenery.
Rather than acting as uniform decoration, the glass tile is used selectively, allowing its changing reflections to shape the building’s identity.
A Family Library at Home
On the second floor, the bedrooms are arranged along one side, while the kitchen, dining, and living areas form a continuous shared space on the other.
Instead of organizing the living room around a television, a long bookshelf and dining table create a shared family library for reading, studying, eating, and conversation. The bedroom doors are designed as sliding panels integrated into the bookshelf wall, allowing the private rooms to open onto the communal area or be closed off as needed.
The interior palette echoes the muted stucco and concrete tones of the exterior, while okoume plywood shelving and furniture introduce warmth throughout the home.
Balconies with Different Degrees of Openness
An existing canopy was transformed into two balconies with contrasting levels of openness. The balcony connected to the bedrooms is enclosed by solid walls to provide privacy, while the balcony beside the stairwell has a glass railing that opens toward views of the surrounding mountains. The rooftop is similarly divided into a gravel-covered area and a paved terrace. Together with the adjacent glass-tile volumes, these outdoor spaces extend the building’s shifting relationship with light, weather, and the surrounding landscape.
Rather than erasing the former church, Glitter Hall preserves and reuses its structural frame while improving its insulation and waterproofing. The former worship hall has become a home organized around books and a shared table, while the clergy quarters have been transformed into a café that opens toward the alley.
Since moving in, the owners say they spend more time together and talk more often—an everyday change supported by spaces that can open and close according to the family’s changing needs.
