Two New Compositions

42 Seoul/Innovation Academy is a coding school located in Seoul, South Korea. The original architecture was built as a ‘Japanese School in Seoul’ in 1979. It is composed of two different buildings linked with a passage bridge. While it was turned into a new academy, two buildings were assigned each for students and faculties. The first step of this new renovation was to do an interactive and paper interview of all the students and faculties, and a strong distinction between the two user groups have found. And to accomplish a different spatial demand, the project chose two separate design schematics for the space; ‘Prismatic Polygon’ and ‘White Void.’ ‘Prismatic Polygon’ is a design scheme inspired by students' creativity. The previous function of the space was for a conventional education system, but the new building was for a new type of education. And to learn the difference between two different education systems, it was essential to understand the ideas from the core users; students. While conducting interviews with the students, they came up with great ideas for the space to create the space. And to actively reflect these ideas into the design of space, various types of spatial modules have been made. Each module was designed based on the combination of multiple ideas from students. And these diverse polygon spaces have gathered, composed, and adapted into a previously existing building. ‘White Void’ is a design scheme reflecting the working patterns of the faculties of the academy. The teachers of this new type of academy had new spatial demands. The original form of space couldn’t keep up with those new and constantly changing needs over time. And to create a new space that could quickly adapt and change, an open design scheme has been chosen. It aims to create a white void space to place faculties' spatial needs. Currently, four different floors are planned for each faculty team of the academy. However, it could be easily changed into a new formation according to the education program change. The building was initially comparted into small rooms to use as classrooms. And those rooms have been converted into new open-plan spaces to adapt to the changes in users and functions. And also, by keeping a linear and wide view of outer spaces, the white cubes full of natural light have been created.