The handmade shoe industry structure in Seongsu-dong is characterized by the dependency of small business owners on subcontractors who deliver products ordered by the major corporations. Unlike conventional urban factories that only emphasize efficient production, the Metropolitan Small Manufacturers' Support Center aims to innovate the production space by reflecting the recent trend of integrated processes such as production, planning, distribution, marketing, and consumption within a single space. The new factory becomes a space that compresses the geography of the commodity chain by integrating the spaces for consumption (planning, design, marketing, consumers) and production in a three-dimensional manner. Seongsu-Silo proposes a new type of factory that provides spatial branding for small business owners and aims to achieve innovation in the manufacturing space for small business owners in Seongsu-dong.

Manufacturing Space Integrating Planning, Design, Production, and Consumption in Three Dimensions

The working spaces of small business owners are placed within the inner area of the site in a universal plane. The front part accommodates service spaces supporting the Metropolitan Small Manufacturers' Support Center, including exhibition, promotional stores, meeting rooms, shoemaking workshops, customized spaces for customers, and classrooms. By providing common spaces between them, the service area in the front can be independently opened to the outside. To emphasize the service area that the new factory and support center should encompass, it is highlighted as an independent volume. The program areas for service-support space, common space, working space, and terrace are laid out in parallel to the front road, enabling a flexible layout for future architectural expansion.

Preserving the upper front facade of the pre-existing building instead of its internal space aims to maintain the continuity of the scenery experienced from the factory zone in Seongsu-dong. The preserved facade of the 2nd floor of the pre-existing building wraps around the service silos supporting the new factory, defining the service area independently. It directly connects to the exhibition and multi-purpose space on the 1st floor and underground 1st floor through the gaps between the columns of the existing building. This allows planners and consumers to easily access not only the lower part of the building but also the service area in the upper part, lowering the psychological boundary of entering the building.

Continuity of Urban Landscape, Open Ground Floor, and Psychological Boundaries

The factory building, constructed with only the minimum elements necessary for its purpose, possesses its own industrial creativity. The materials palette of Seongsu-dong street is filled with a common architectural language based on practicality and economy. The pre-existing factory of the target site is a typical type of Seongsu-dong, a Rahmen-structured building made by filling the gaps between concrete frame with bricks. The proposed project uses familiar materials to preserve the horizontal landscape while respecting and developing the landscape of the place through different use. The preserved masonry walls of the foundation building are combined with the newly added Service Columns, creating a fence and an open podium.

Expanding the Pedestrian Experience of Seongsu-dong

Seongsu-dong is transforming from a factory zone where only "production" takes place into a place where production, design, and cultural consumption coexist, adding liveliness. Valuable places gather people and create new urban experiences. The road, which was primarily a logistics facility for transporting materials and products, is gradually being occupied by Seongsu-dong's consumers through walking. This landscape shows that there are many opportunities for consumers to participate in the shoemaking process. The relatively flat and wide pedestrian-friendly streets of Seongsu-dong connect distant cultural facilities to the pedestrian network. The Seong-su Silo arranges the service area in a prominent and three-dimensional manner on the lower part of the façade that meets the city, complementing and reinforcing "production." Through this, it aims to become a city-architecture that offers an experience that makes people want to come back again within the dense pedestrian network of Seongsu-dong.