Care and Wellness Center
The South Korean city of Paju has grown through high-density residential developments that have produced a generic urban periphery, often lacking quality public spaces. It is within this context that the new Care and Wellness Center for elderly people and people with disabilities is inserted. Instead of adopting the competition brief’s proposal for two separate buildings, we chose a unified, compact, and porous scheme that allows the adjacent metropolitan park to pass through the building. In this way, a public void is created at its core, reinterpreting the Korean madang—a kind of courtyard with a communal vocation—as a place for gathering and relaxation, while naturally separating the different required programs, reinforcing the connection with the park, and creating an environmental island within the dense urban fabric.
The horizontal configuration reduces vertical circulation, promotes universal accessibility, and gives the complex a more approachable human scale. The central void, sunlit throughout the year, organizes views and access to the various functions, while a continuous ramp connects the two large porticoes open onto the courtyard: one on the ground floor, linked to collective uses such as auditoriums, classrooms, and the dining hall; and another on the first floor, where gyms, rehabilitation rooms, and activity spaces are located. On the roof, two pavilions overlooking the city accommodate the administrative areas of each center.
The project is organized through an isotropic 8 × 8 meter structural grid that ensures flexibility and organizational clarity, integrating within it the concrete volumes of the auditoriums, as well as the ramp cores and service areas. Exposed concrete downstand beams define the larger-scale spaces, where structure and building systems remain visible against the backdrop of the courtyard and park vegetation. Externally, the building adapts to its surroundings through a series of concavities, while the façade is resolved through a single 125 cm module incorporating glazed joinery and a curved perforated aluminum sheet that unifies the building’s external image and modulates the privacy of the interior uses toward the street.
The result is a porous building that blurs the boundaries of the city and allows the park to pass through it, creating a green, quiet public space that encourages encounters among citizens.
