Nowon District Office Wins Grand Prize at 2023 Seoul Metropolitan Government Architecture Awards

Remodeling of the District Office Lobby, Which Served Only as a Passageway, into a ‘Resident-Friendly Cultural Complex Space’

Lobby Ceiling Height Expanded, Front Glass Sliding Doors... Creating a Spacious and Open Feel by Connecting Interior and Exterior

Introducing Architecture Made with Furniture, Including a 9m-Long Solid Wood Table ‘Nowon Chaeksang,’ to Transform the Space into a Lounge for the Local Community, Like a Comfortable Living Room of the City

Nowon Senior Happiness Corporation, Operating the Book Cafe ‘Nowon437,’ Holds a Commemorative SNS Event for the Award

Nowon-gu (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that the complex cultural space ‘Nowon Chaeksang’ in the district office building, which opened in March last year, has been selected as the Grand Prize winner in the public category of the Seoul Metropolitan Government Architecture Awards.

The ‘Seoul Architecture Awards’ is a system established by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to discover works that contribute to the development of architectural culture and technology. Every year, it selects and encourages outstanding buildings that improve the quality of life for citizens.

The complex cultural space ‘Nowon Chaeksang,’ created by remodeling the Nowon District Office lobby, was recognized for transforming the rigid and dull district office lobby into a familiar space like a living room, opening new possibilities for public spaces.

To create the building lobby as a resident rest area and cultural communication space, the district government benchmarked excellent cases from across the country and devoted two years from design to construction. As a result, a total of 1,627.7㎡ including the first-floor lobby and the basement cafeteria was transformed into a resident-friendly space, especially turning the first-floor lobby, which had only served as a passageway, into a cultural complex space.

First, the existing second-floor terrace of the main building was removed, and the ceiling height of the first-floor lobby was expanded to enhance openness. The front was composed of glass sliding doors to improve lighting and interior effects, linking the exterior and interior spaces to create a wide and pleasant spatial experience.

Principal architect Jo Yoon-hee (Gu Architecture Office) and Professor Hong Ji-hak (Chungnam National University), who participated in the design, call this place ‘the living room of the city that radiates scenery.’ They framed the scenes of various activities unfolding in the district office lobby, aiming for open architecture. Indoor flower beds with money trees (Manlihyang), camellias, and bougainvillea installed on both sides of the lobby add a splendid landscape.

Special care was taken to decorate the space as a ‘lounge for the local community’ with an open library and book cafe. About 3,000 books are placed on bookshelves along the lobby walls. Anyone visiting the building can freely read them without any separate borrowing procedures.

The book cafe located in the center of the lobby features a 9m-long solid wood table as its centerpiece, offering a sophisticated interior and signature menu made with top-quality coffee beans. Because of this, the number of residents visiting the cafe is gradually increasing.

In particular, the 9m solid wood table embodies the affection of district office staff and designers so much that the work was named ‘Nowon District Office Lobby Complex Cultural Space “Nowon Chaeksang”’ when submitting for the Seoul Architecture Awards competition.

Architect Jo said that for a comfortable atmosphere like a ‘living room of the city,’ furniture to be filled in was more important than emptiness. To this end, after several visits to the Yeoju Wood Distribution Center with district office staff, they finally acquired a solid wood table that fits the lobby atmosphere.

Additionally, the lobby includes various unique spaces such as the ‘Elevated Platform and LP Record Listening Room,’ located in a space higher than the first floor but lower than the second floor, a ‘Small Stage’ for small-scale performances, a ‘Book Rest Area,’ and an ‘Exhibition Hall for Small and Medium Enterprises’ products.

At noon on the 4th, a ‘Youth Symphony Orchestra Visiting Concert’ was held in the lobby. The district government is hosting concerts to provide a brief healing time amid the hot and busy daily life for employees and residents by utilizing the district office lobby reborn as a complex cultural space. On this day, conductor Song Young-gyu and 24 orchestra members performed familiar pieces to the public such as Johannes Brahms’ ‘Liebeslieder,’ ‘Gypsy Songs,’ the Cinema Paradiso OST ‘Cinema Paradiso,’ and ‘Love Theme.’

To commemorate the architectural award for the Nowon District Office lobby, Nowon Senior Happiness Corporation (book cafe ‘Nowon437’) is conducting an SNS event. Visitors who take a certification photo at the district office lobby, post it on their personal SNS with the hashtag ‘#NowonDistrictOffice,’ and show the post to the cafe staff will receive one free Americano daily for the first 100 people. This event runs for five days from the 7th to the 11th.

District Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “I am very pleased that our efforts to return the district office to a resting space for residents, beyond a simple administrative institution, in line with changing times, have led to this award. We will perfectly expand healing spaces so that anyone can enjoy rest and culture even briefly amid busy daily life.”