Tracking the morphology of building types and site planning layouts within Seoul’s reconstructed and redeveloped apartment complexes

ABSTRACT

Urban residential redevelopment projects in Seoul, South Korea gradually replaced the deteriorating low-rise residential fabrics with high-rise, high-density apartment complexes. Despite flat-type being the dominant style for apartment buildings, compact tower-type buildings popularised in the late 1990s to maximise density in terms of floor area ratio, ensure open green spaces and provide favourable views. However, as tower-type buildings possessed several deficiencies, such as non-southern orientation, difficulties in cross-ventilation, and comparatively higher construction costs, a compromise emerged in the 2000s. In succession, various morphologically modified and intentionally deformed buildings and their accompanying site planning configurations emerged to overcome the shortcomings of the newly built high-rise apartment complexes. This study aims to (1) track the evolving apartment building morphology and (2) identify different layout configurations in accordance with the transformed building types, specifically those constructed in redeveloped and reconstructed housing projects. Diverse building modification and relevant arrangement strategies are primarily oriented to the internal residents’ interests, while the public dimension outside the complex is inconspicuously underestimated. Thus, it is crucial to further perceive and promote awareness of the public space in ways that counterbalance the dominantly privatized pedestrian environment and neighbourhood-scape based on systematic comprehension of apartment buildings and their layout morphologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Apartment building type
• site planning layout
• housing redevelopment
• housing reconstruction
• urban morphology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

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2 Park, “Genetics of Korean Housing 2,” 125.

3 Gelézeau, “Changing Housing Culture in Seoul,” 316.

4 Park, “Korean Society of Apartment”; Gelézeau, “Changing Housing Culture in Seoul,” 317.

5 Park, “Apartment.”; Rowe, “East Asia Modern.”

6 Kim, “New Form, Classic Problem,” 240.

7 Hwang, “Morphological Consequences of Apartment,” 105–6.

8 Hwang and Kim, “Gated Exclusiveness of Apartment Complex,” 726–7.

9 Hwang, “Morphological Consequences of Apartment,” 106–13.

10 Kim et al., “View Blockage Ratio in the Apartment Complex,” 719–20.

11 Kim et al., “Block Forms in Apartment.”: Lee, “Openness Types in Apartment Building Blocks.”

12 Hwang, “Morphological Consequences of Apartment,” 106.

13 Jeong, “Good-Will City.”

14 Moudon, “Typomorphology.”

15 Coy, “Gated Communities in Latin America,” 131.

16 Banerjee, “Future of Public Space,” 9–10.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea: [grant number 2020R1F1A1074374].

Notes on contributors

Soe Won Hwang

Soe Won Hwang, Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and Building Science Department, Chung-Ang University. Housing Research Group is led by Professor Soe Won Hwang.

Hangyu Oh

Hangyu Oh is enrolled in the Master of Architecture Degree program at Chung-Ang University. He is affiliated researcher at the ‘Urban Morphology and Housing Research Group led by Professor Soe Won Hwang at the School of Architecture and Building Science Department.

Jae Woo Kim

Jae Woo Kim is enrolled in the Master of Architecture Degree program at Chung-Ang University. He is affiliated researcher at the ‘Urban Morphology and Housing Research Group’ led by Professor Soe Won Hwang at the School of Architecture and Building Science Department.