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baik gallery
LOCATION:
SIZE:
PROGRAM:
COMPLETION:
TYPES:
Seoul, Korea
2,500 ft²
Gallery, Bar, Rooftop Kitchen
2025
Cultural, Retail
Located in the Samseon-dong neighborhood of Seoul, Baik Gallery is an adaptive reuse project housed within a former primary care clinic. The design reveals the building's structural purity while reimagining both the interior and exterior through a contemporary lens.
Projecting outward into the streetscape, the custom volumetric windows directly engage the public realm. Each unit is uniquely oriented and angled, articulating a dynamic addition to the existing structure. The clear glass volumes are anchored by blackened steel plating, establishing a material contrast between the structural framing and the glazing.
The program integrates exhibition spaces with two self-contained artist residencies, each designed as a live-work studio apartment. This hybrid configuration allows visiting artists to seamlessly transition between the production and exhibition of their work within a unified environment. Architecturally, the gallery interior maximizes continuous planar surfaces for art display. Serving as a textural counterpoint to the pristine white walls, existing concrete columns were stripped back to their raw structural finish, grounding the space in its original material history.
Transforming the upper level, the design introduces a highly integrated indoor-outdoor kitchen. A custom, top-hinged operable window retracts to completely open the space to the rooftop terrace. Emphasizing this seamless connection, a continuous stainless steel countertop extends across the threshold. The sleek, monolithic stainless steel surfaces offer a deliberate material contrast to the building's original, raw concrete framework.
Principal:
Design Team:
Matthew Royce
Chloe Lee
Prim Yang
Local Architect:
Photography:
OFNN Architects
Nathaniel Bennett