Project by Sangbum Kai Park
This project begins with research on the cultural and historical background of Christianity in Korea. Introduced in the late 19th century, Christianity rapidly expanded alongside Korea’s explosive real estate growth, eventually embedding itself within commercial buildings. As a result, many Korean churches exist as “commercial churches,” marked by oversized signage and crosses. I categorize these churches into three typologies: GBD churches renting single units for weekday worship, redevelopment-zone churches entangled in property disputes, and old-town churches where multiple congregations coexist within one building.
Using this condition, the project proposes a Sacred Turn. The first turn recognizes the transformation of generic commercial buildings into churches; the second reconfigures these churches as community-oriented spaces. Through a Waqf-like alliance of seven churches, the project connects two distinct neighborhoods and reorganizes four fragmented communities within one commercial building. Spatial strategies—bridges, tunnels, vertical circulation, and reorganization of programs—transform the building into a threshold that reconnects sacred, social, and everyday life.
