Seongsu Red Brick Factories

The red brick walls of Cafe Onion still wear the cracked, faded plaster and exposed concrete of their industrial past. This site served as a metal factory in the nineteen seventies, followed by years as a supermarket and then a machine…

The Amore Seongsu building wears a skin of rough, rusted concrete that exposes its past as an automotive repair shop. Designers stripped away the heavy layers of old paint and plaster, leaving the scarred structure visible beneath a new…

The four-story red brick complex at the corner of Yeonmujang-gil wears a prominent, arched metal staircase on its exterior. This structure began its life as a simple car repair shop and industrial space in the nineteen eighties. In twenty…

The Seongsu Federation building wears a jagged, rusted steel skin that stands out against the smooth concrete facades of its neighbors. This structure once functioned as a humble hardware factory during the height of Seoul's industrial…

The three story building at the corner stands out for its facade, which is fractured by a jagged, deliberate gash running vertically through the brickwork. Ader Error, a Korean fashion collective, gutted this former industrial space to…

The wide, rusted steel doors of Daelim Changgo mark the entrance to a cavernous former rice mill. Inside, exposed red brick walls and original wooden rafters support an industrial structure that functioned as a major storage hub for rice…

Point of View is a multi-story stationery store housed in a weathered brick building that stands out against the sleek, newer developments of Seongsu-dong. Inside, the space operates as a curated archive of writing tools, vintage paper,…

The elevated train tracks running through Seongsu-dong cast a long, rhythmic shadow over rows of low brick factories and workshops. This neighborhood holds hundreds of small studios dedicated to handmade shoes, a trade that migrated here…