Mall of Dreams

Towers in the Park

In the 1960s, Seoul entered its first era of mass-produced modern housing, marking a decisive break from the city’s low-rise past. Early apartment complexes appeared as mid-rise slab blocks—rigid, uniform, and economically built—arranged around open courtyards where children played and neighbors gathered. These buildings embodied a new way of living: indoor plumbing, private units, collective outdoor space, and a promise of modern urban life.

By the late 1960s, Seoul began to build its first high-rise apartment towers, many of which followed the single-loaded corridor model. In these early towers, each unit opened to an exterior corridor on one side and extended toward a continuous façade of south-facing balconies on the other. This arrangement created ideal cross-ventilation, abundant daylight, and a strong visual rhythm along the façade. It also aligned with Le Corbusier’s modernist housing principles, echoing the logic of linear slabs, rational circulation, and climatic responsiveness.

Aging of Korea’s Early Apartment Blocks

Decades after their construction, Korea’s first generation of apartment slabs and towers reveal the fatigue of an accelerated modernist era—spalling concrete, inefficient envelopes, and ad-hoc balcony enclosures that obscure their original clarity. Their aging stems not from structural failure but from obsolete building systems, rigid layouts, and communal spaces that no longer support contemporary living.

Yet these frameworks remain robust. As they approach a threshold between renewal and demolition, their latent spatial capacity invites a different architectural future—one where thoughtful retrofitting, rather than replacement, becomes the catalyst for new forms of affordable and communal living.

Reconstruction Towers and Social Isolation

Korea’s reconstruction model replaces aging mid-rise apartments with high-rise towers organized around private elevator cores. Circulation becomes highly efficient but socially empty: residents move directly from parking to elevators to sealed front doors with almost no shared space. Balconies are enclosed, thresholds disappear, and podium landscapes separate towers from the street.

The result is a vertical housing type that maximizes privacy and property value but weakens the casual encounters and visual connections that once supported everyday community life.

Toward a New model of Housing

This project proposes an alternative to South Korea’s typical reconstruction cycle, where aging apartment blocks are demolished and replaced with expensive high-rise towers. Instead, it explores how existing mid-rise apartments can be renewed through strategic architectural interventions that strengthen community life.

The design focuses on transforming the balcony from an enclosed, forgotten space back into a vibrant social zone. Façades are opened and reshaped: some balcony areas are extended outward to create generous terraces, while others are recessed to form shaded pockets planted with trees and small gardens. These new layers—frames, railings, shutters, and projecting slabs—add depth, rhythm, and color to the once-flat elevations, giving each home a distinct presence without disrupting the overall structure.

At the ground level, the project reorganizes the courtyard into a lush pedestrian landscape, connecting buildings with pathways, seating, and shared green spaces. Openings carved into the first floors create visual and physical permeability, encouraging residents to move through and inhabit the space.

By working with the existing structural grid, the proposal shows how Korea’s older apartments can be upgraded rather than replaced. Through expanded balconies, greener courtyards, and expressive façades, this project imagines a more affordable, socially connected alternative to high-rise redevelopment—one rooted in everyday life rather than real estate speculation.