The KB Youth Step has transformed the Seokyo branch building of KB Kookmin Bank, designed by Space Group in 1968, into a cultural facility for young people. This building contains within it the idea of contributing to society as a public space in the form of a stair plaza, which will invite an urban style into the building and open a private bank building towards a city in which there is no available room for a square. The main design concepts can be summarized as follows:
Photography: Namsun Lee
Publicity

The starting point of this design was the idea that there is no public space offering the convenience of seating when on a walk in this area. The guiding concept for the small private building of KB Kookmin Bank was to insert a terraced element to serve as a public space near Hongik University. The intention was to make the new KB Youth Step a public space open to the city rather than a closed area, and to let the accumulated capital of the financial institution serve in the public interest rather than for only certain individuals or members. The stair plaza, reaching from the first floor to the second, has been planned as a place for events, and as a space in which people can take a rest, use as a meeting place, or perform various activities such as busking and street performances. Photography: Namsun Lee
Topology

In this building, topology plays with architectural and urban methodologies to create spatial structures that realize a sense of publicity. Folded to lead to...