![]() It is strictly an adult-only space, selling or lending graphic novels, comic books and art and design books like the ones published by TASCHEN. I don’t believe in making something only for the sake of beauty,’ he says. ‘I’ve always believed that form must conform to human behaviour. This is what led to the building’s vertically lined exterior, which Kim says he collaborated with Chinese ceramic artist Wen Ping to achieve.įor the interior, Kim studied people’s reading positions, from lying down to sitting with hands cupping jaws, and designed seating areas to support those shapes. ![]() Kim says he was inspired by an old book that he inherited from his grandfather, its bound pages having grown uneven on the side over the years. Minibuses zip through single-lane alleyways that connect low-rise flats and shops, many of which were built before the turn of the millennium.Īll of this makes the addition of Graphic to the neighbourhood even more striking. Unlike the rest of the city that’s dominated by apartment blocks and tower residences, the areas at the foot of Namsan have been extremely slow to change due to height restrictions. It doesn’t have a real view to speak of,’ says Kim, referring to the mountain that marks the geographical centre of the South Korean capital. The windows are on the ceiling, in the gaps that connect each floor. The floors, each shaped like a quarter of a cylinder, are stacked on top of each other like a multilevel cake, growing narrower as they rise higher. Ensconced between low-rise brick-walled flats that have guarded the neighbourhood for decades, it stands out from the crowd. ![]() There are hour-long queues to get in even on weekdays.ĭesigned by architecture firm OONN Metaworks and space and brand design studio U.LAB, both helmed by Kim Jong-u, the four-storey building has a striking cream-coloured exterior with no visible windows on the facade. Enter Graphic, a bookstore dedicated to graphic novels that’s breathing new life into the area. In the last decade, the neighbourhood around Seoul’s Gyeongridan-gil in Itaewon has gone from a rundown hillside residential area to hipster enclave - until it was hollowed out by the recent years’ wave of gentrification. ![]()
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