Wap Art Space

November 15, 2018

Davide Macullo architects realized a mixed use building that includes private residence and contemporary art gallery in Seoul.

This work results from a close collaboration between the architect and an enlightened client capable of assimilating and encouraging architectural choices motivated by reasons that generate forms. An extraordinary passion has bound us throughout the years of the project, reaching a synthesis expressed by the completed work.Architecture connects with the identity of a place and projects it into the future. This new building is the synthesis of the values of Korean culture, a culture that considers carefully its gestures, both physical and social and reveals in them expressions of civility, establishing a balance for man in his natural context.

Building today in the metropolitan city of Seoul gives us the opportunity to restore the built volumes to a human scale, giving it an expression that binds it to the necessities of contemporary living. The three dimensional composition of the work represents a spatial arrangement of the habitable volumes organized on an orthogonal cubic grid that defines a larger space than that actually built. The building is cast about the empty space and this determines the rhythmic relationships with the context, highlighting the importance of the human scale within the urban fabric.

The project stems from the modeling of an approximate cubic grid, two meters on each side, which connects the spaces to the physicality of the inhabitants. The cubic space of two meters on each side is comfortable, it is a space of man's games of movement that rotates on his center of gravity. The multiple generated by the grid is the basic element of the relationship between the inhabitant and the urban fabric: 2 meters=man, 20 meters=city. The composition of cubic volumes expressed in multiples, 6-810 meters on each side, reveals the living space and defines the new scale of the relationship with the surrounding urban space.

The new building offers, in the current use of its spaces, a mixed use of residential spaces (private) and exhibition spaces (public). The transition between the urban-public-private-intimate space is resolved in a spiral motion that starts from the road, climbing vertically towards the more intimate spaces of the house. The new residence-gallery presents itself as a contemporary urban castle where living spaces are supported by production space. If in the past the location of animals on the lower floors of a home nourished and warmed, in a physical way, the upper floors; in our case the art nourishes and warms the inhabitants in terms of intellectual comfort, effecting the general welfare of the inhabitants. The microcosm generated by WAP Art Space establishes its own order of relations with the neighbouring environment, by acting on the perception of the boundary between the public and private space. The building is an organisation that offers a sequence of spaces (cubes) alternating between closed and open, full and empty, compressed and decompressed. This rhythm follows a sort of perceptual map translated into distinct moments of usability but connected together. The sequence of the spaces takes place through the perceptual expansion of each space towards the adjacent or more distant.

The cube as a primary element, chosen for its evocative power, a symbolic and balanced element, escapes the rules of design as it is already defined a priori. The architect's work is not in designing the project in the classic sense, but rather in managing the spatial organisation of the elements (cubes) through the hypothesised use of time spent in traveling between and staying in the spaces. In this newly constructed landscape there are alternating material expressions, from the weaving of the rippled brick to the sense of suspension given by the white smooth walls. The exhibition spaces tend to be neutral of their architectural language. We focus on the enjoyment of works of art that will live in these spaces, suspended between a sense of meditation and action. The exhibition spaces are calm. In their primary form, they express a feeling of retreat and participation in the worldview offered by the individual artist through the artwork.

SHARE THIS

 Contribute

G&G _ Magazine is always looking for the creative talents of stylists, designers, photographers and writers from around the globe.

WRITE US

 Find us on

Recent Posts

By G&G _ Magazine February 3, 2026
Merav Bustan, founder of the Berlin-based design studio bearing her name, is the creative force behind the interior design of the new boutique hotel, VIA Antwerp , located in the vibrant heart of the Zurenborg district.
By G&G _ Magazine January 28, 2026
From January 18 to 20, 2026, Destination Design confirmed itself as a key observatory for contemporary living where design is no longer just about form or function, but about emotion and adaptability for the future.
By G&G _ Magazine January 26, 2026
Workspace Design Show is set to take place from February 25-16, 2026, at the Business Design Centre in London, returning with a powerful series of immersive installations that bring the theme Connected Realities to life.
By G&G _ Magazine January 12, 2026
DA bureau designed a 150 m² apartment in St. Petersburg, conceived to offer comfortable, functional living for a couple with three children.
By G&G _ Magazine January 10, 2026
Designed by studio gram, Monarto Safari Resort tells a story of migration, encounter, and reconnection with nature. Conceived as a sensory retreat, the project invites travellers to step away from fast-paced routines and immerse themselves in a landscape where architecture, wildlife, and human experience coexist in quiet harmony.
By G&G _ Magazine January 9, 2026
OF. Studio, an internationally award-winning architecture practice based in London, designed a 571 m² single-family residence in Mendoza, Argentina, conceived as a bold architectural response to its landscape, where form, materiality, and human inhabitation are expressed with radical honesty.
MORE

 Subscribe

Keep up to date with the latest trends!

Receive a dose of inspiration directly into your mailbox!

 Popular Posts

By G&G _ Magazine November 6, 2025
interihotel once again amazed the city of Barcelona from October 21st to 23rd, bringing more than 11,600 industry professionals from around the world, reaffirming its position as Europe's leading event for hospitality design.
By G&G _ Magazine September 11, 2025
At M&O September 2025 edition, countless brands and design talents unveiled extraordinary innovations. Yet, among the many remarkable presences, some stood out in a truly distinctive way. G&G _ Magazine is proud to present a curated selection of 21 Outstanding Professionals who are redefining the meaning of Craftsmanship in their own unique manner, blending tradition with contemporary visions and eco-conscious approaches.
By G&G _ Magazine May 2, 2025
Nestled at the foot of Shuiguan Mountain, just an hour's drive from Beijing, Commune by the Great Wall stands as a testament to contemporary architectural innovation harmoniously blended with China's rich heritage.