“A Step for a New Journey” This project uses one of the most distinctive features of the existing building—the arched windows and proposes a new space by architecture students, for architecture students, and of architecture students. As the title suggests, it marks a first step toward a new journey for both the building and the students.

Through this diagram, which maps the relationships between existing architectural institutions, I found the need for an exhibition and archive space dedicated to architecture students. And beyond that, I envisioned a space where students could actively organize exhibitions, lectures, and mentoring programs. The main function of the space is to exhibit students’ work. Since each project contains a personal narrative, all works are equally meaningful, creative, and important.

To reflect that, I eliminated hierarchy between works. Traditional exhibitions with a clear beginning and end inevitably create a narrative structure and hierarchy. I addressed this by introducing a looped circulation, so the visitor’s movement has no fixed start or end point. This study model demonstrates the loop-based program strategy. I made a collage with models of program and circulation to discover a new and distinctive form.

To see how this new form might operate, I began with an analysis of the site and the existing building. Currently, the building has a single main entrance that is difficult to locate and access due to trees, flower beds, a pond, and vehicular roads that surround the site like a fortress. Architecturally, the building is composed of stacked boxy masses that create a rigid and static form. And also the building shows the balance between symmetry and asymmetry. As seen in the plaster cast of the façade, the building’s exterior uses bricks similar to neighboring ARKO buildings, but unlike those, this building has a unique feature that can be found in the mapping and charcoal rubbings. A larger number of windows and arched form windows. Inside the building, the circulation splits into two, after the main entrance. But to move vertically between floors, one must return to the starting point.

To adaptively reuse this building, I was inspired by the BUDAfabriek in Belgium, where new masses were inserted into an existing structure. I followed a similar approach, adding new volumes while preserving and enhancing the building’s unique features, such as the arched windows.

As seen in the 1:400 site plan, I reorganized the site's landscaping and circulation to create a new flow into the building. Unlike the original plan dominated by vehicle access, I divided the space into areas for cars and public pedestrian zones. While preserving as many trees as possible, I introduced new pathways to create more inviting access.

In the 3D model of the adaptively reused building, you can see that I inserted a large, leaf-shaped mass through the center of the structure. This became a new main entrance from the back side of the building, offering users a vertical spatial experience and natural lighting which are previously absent in the original building. The arched forms found in the original building were reused in the newly added walls and masses. I followed the original rule where arches are located at the top of vertical window arrangements, and are semicircular in shape. Using this same logic, I incorporated arches into the new curved walls and volumes. In doing so, I broke away from the rigid box-like structure of the original building and created a more fluid, dynamic building where circulation flows naturally.

The new forms also informed the configuration of the interior walls. And non-arched original windows were either removed or visually obscured. From the outside, only arched windows and walls are visible, maximizing the visual presence of this architectural motif. By introducing new masses and internal connections, I resolved the issue of vertical movement—users no longer need to return to the starting point to go up or down. The project offers new pathways that allow diverse and efficient circulation.

In the floor plans, you can continuously find a balance between symmetry and asymmetry, echoing the original building. This is expressed through symmetrical geometries, asymmetrical spatial arrangements, and variations in the number of arches.

1:200 model-making process

Front side of the model

Back side of the model