7. Interior Reuse
KyungWon Ryu
I was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea and I studied Product and Furniture Design BA in Kingston School of Art. After the graduation, I worked in Design Group Mecca in Seoul as an intern in product design department.
Designing objects for a specific situation and purpose was great learning experiences and it leaded me to ask myself what about spaces? So, I applied to Interior Design MA, RCA. During the course, I had another internship experience in Kinnersley Kent Design, London.
I guess, when someone see my work, one would wonder ‘wait isn’t this Interior Design course? This is a gigantic piece of architectural remodelling project with a bit of heavy engineering on top of a ruinous church. Where is the INTERIOR part?’.
Well, I totally get it since all of my friends and family members who saw all of my projects in RCA questioned same things. Here reveals why I applied interior design RE;USE platform, because this platform is essentially about re-purposing, re-using and re-positioning things already exist to fulfill a totally new context that the original old layer was not designed for, I was deeply attracted to it which is a core identity of interior design practice.
21st century is probably the most prosperous era in the entire human history, but we must not forget that there are limits in terms of using resources and making NEW things by devouring it. Before we become the last generation that enjoyed the material prosperity in future, we have to recycle things to survive and sustain and it includes buildings and cities we live in too. However, it is still not enough at all.
During the time in RCA, it was truly wonderful time that I was able to deeply learn, concentrate and ponder about the core value of interior design. I love its flexibility, freedom and idealistic goals.
Thank you everyone that I have met in RCA. I would never forget the time I spent in RCA.
Cycle of Build / Unbuild / Rebuild — GIF describes flexibility of the makerspace. It reacts and changes depending on the need or economic condition of the local community of Sheerness.
The Artefact — To show what I learned through the research phase, I designed a frame like route guiding visitors to the designated area where the old and the new vividly intersect.
Collage for the boatyard — Boatyard commemorates what the historic dockyard had done for the last 300 years which was building and repairing ships and boats. The crane connects activities of inside and outside of the site.
Collage for the makerspace — New industry of makerspace synergise with the boatyard to promote the deprived local economy. Systematically, the old and new industry help each other by coexisting and intersecting.
Made in Sheerness Makerspace — The church will be fully fusioned with the new industry of makerspace to promote the local economy and to commemorate the history of the dockyard.
Sectional Drawing of Makerspace — Different professions of makers, artists and startups will work on top of each other like a small village and synergise through frequent opportunities of communication throughout the space.
Main Entrance — The tower which has been the symbol of the dockyard since it can be seen from Sheerness high street will become higher and physically enhanced by retained facade. Graphic works are used to establish the visual identity of the makerspace. Industrial materials of perforated steel beams, anti-slip aluminium panels and steel panel doors emphasise the industrial characteristic of the makerspace.
Communal Area — Black metal archway and yellow colored anti-slip panels follow the order of the existed bay area alongside with the survived columns. The bridge connects the place to the circulation area on the left side. Whole area is semi-enclosed, to give some level of openness between the working environment and the communal area.
Workshop — Height differences between the communal area and the workshop environment is apparent because the work environment follows the dimension of shipping containers. Color plan for doors of material storages follows the same plan to three rows of container studio area.
Boatyard — The boatyard will be an open environment that people can see how boats would be built and repaired. The place will give an optimum work environment that people could focus on the individual work but at the same time freely communicate about it to synergise.
Garden — Garden will be relatively calm and green environment contrasting to other areas. Graphics on the facade of containers describe each different profession that occupies the space.
Main Circulation — Main circulation area connects all working environments in the space. It follows a physical dimension of containers since the working environment is consisted of shipping containers. Its dense and industrial atmosphere gives the sense of feeling that you couldn't imagine this was a church.
To reinforce this connection, the church will become a makerspace. A place where various professions, local to Sheppey, will work alongside each other in order to promote the local economy. Boat yards that build and repair traditional boats as commemoration of what the dockyard had existed for, are placed alongside new makers; connecting to the old, in new workshops and studios. The new programme connects the local economy whilst commemorating the history of the royal dockyard.
The makerspace is a flexible place that grows and shrinks in relation to the needs of the local economy. This is emphasised in two ways. The makerspace is organised as a mini-port; full of containers that hold studios and workshops. Secondly a huge-gantry crane redeploys the shipping containers, as and when they are needed. Its steel structure reinforces and restructures the existing building.
Like a new port, Makerspace will breathe new life into the church, and the economy of the island community through manufacture and construction.