In the early 1980s, small workshops of artists began to gather around Hongik University one by one. Artists continued their artistic work and began to teach painting to middle and high school students for a living, and soon the place was transformed into a professional art academy. As a result, 'Art Academy Street' was formed on the road leading from the main gate of Hongik University to the Sanwoolim Small Theater.
Around the same time, the "Red Brick Street" that runs from the main gate of Hongik University to a residential area in the Far East Broadcasting Station appeared. It started with the "Our Madang" building designed by architect Kim Ki-seok in 1977. Attracted by the unique texture and space of the building's red rock walls, neighbors commissioned the same architect to build the building, and additional works such as "My Sister" and "The citadel" were created. These structures, combined with deep yard space and arched windows, transformed the entire street in front of Hongik University into a place full of artistic and cultural emotions. The traces are almost gone now, but there was a time when the block was once full of red brick buildings.
Since then, indie musicians have set up a studio in the basement of the alley in front of Hongik University, and the area has retained its unique cultural atmosphere. However, over time, various stores were built, and the business district in front of Hongdae became famous, transforming into a bustling commercial district. Currently, the identity is increasingly lost in line with commercial demand. For those who remember the "red brick street" of the past, the front of Hongik University now remains empty and nostalgic like a stolen cherished item.
"Where did all those places of memory disappear?"
Could the unique atmosphere of the past have continued until now if the street was renamed "Red Brick Street" and the street festivals were held to maintain the atmosphere of the time, or if the materials and aesthetics were regulated through city planning? Even without special plans or systems, if there was a cultural desire to understand the unique values and find meaning of the area, individual buildings may have naturally changed into their own, sharing the surrounding context. Even without such a specific vision, needs would have foreshadowed their fulfillment, and people's common cultural needs would have created a natural neighborhood culture. We can see that the emotional atmosphere of the past still remains a cultural gene, which still stays in a part and seeps into the surroundings, leading to new creative evolution.
It is said that when people recognize an object, they do not see it as a set of parts, but rather as a unified whole. It is expressed as 'Gestalt' in German, and describes the process of gathering parts to form one whole. When a specific part becomes a foreground and attracts our attention, the rest retreats to the ground. This series of relationships between foregrounds and backgrounds takes place through a self-sustaining cycle of formation and resolution of continuous gestalt. Cute brick buildings with rather rough textures, which once served as foregrounds for 'red brick streets', cannot be found now, but they remain as cultural genes that make up the surroundings and are backing down to a background that can support the new foreground. In this way, the place is shared in memory and evolves through the cycle of foreground and background, and the city becomes a place of creation and extinction that is reborn as a new place.
The landscape in front of Hongik University has changed. The iconic three-way large bookstore has long disappeared, and the art studio has moved to the back alley. Just as shopping malls in the subway station area have been plastered with signboards, the streets in front of Hongik University have become noisy with various industries concentrated in response to commercial demands. A modern city that lives like an organism can no longer maintain the unique atmosphere of the region with a specific system. It is time for an architectural alternative that can accept rapid change and evolve in it.
Seogyo Gestalt is a rental neighborhood living facility located in front of the main gate of Hongik University. As the building is for profit, its appearance will vary depending on the rental situation after completion. Even if it was planned in a nice form according to the intention of the architect, the atmosphere is bound to change due to the actual rental situation or the installation of signboards. It is possible to predict to some extent whether the building will be rented as a whole or divided by floors, but in the end, it will depend on actual demand. The interior of the building may be divided in an unexpected way, and the spaces may be divided and used. However, if a single program can be flexibly organized, clustered, and reflect the cultural sentiment of the region, a unique culture that meets the needs of the local community will be formed naturally.
As such, Seogyo Gestalt is expected to be recognized as a whole that embraces local culture and reveals a meaningful shape with the unique culture of the region in front of Hongik University as a background. Even if it looks different from the "red brick street" in the 1980s, I hope that the front of Hongik University will continue to grow organically by continuing the cycle of spontaneous foreground and background of the city through the evolution of the city into a place with new cultural colors. If the various programs being rented are integrated into the local emotions required by the times and operate as a whole while making their own voices heard as a part, this building will contribute to the formation of a new culture in the region, and the city will grow organically in it.
