Elva Choi

Originally from South Korea and now based in London, my work primarily explores the implication of ever-evolving cultural behaviours on the practice of architecture. This theme is engaged with using media of drawings and animations in search for the interaction between the real (physical realm) and the unpredictable (digital realm).

Prior to the RCA, I graduated from the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL and worked in architectural practices including HTA Design and David Kohn Architects. Within my personal practice, I have taken part in Non-Architecture Competition and various public projects in Seoul, including annual celebrations for the Independence Day and the exhibition Stolen Journey, exhibited at the city hall.

Buildings have longer lifespans than humans. Or at least, we have been presuming so.

But in the contemporary context of South Korea, a new phenomenon emerges: humans currently outlive buildings. Architecture no longer serves as a permanent skeleton of the city. In the age of anti-ageing, the project speculates that buildings will become part of the biological system and consequently, subjected to the concept of anti-ageing.

In a fast-developing city, the architecture must begin to acknowledge the demand for constant changes. It is this nature of transition within the choreography of the building, not monumentality, which will ensure its agerasia. Paradoxically, the materials have to age in order to anti-age the building.

As with our unattainable dream of anti-ageing, the project 'Agelessness & Aftercare' speculates the impossible: Can architecture de-age? What is the notion of permanence in architecture in the age of anti-ageing?

De-stabiliser — Accepting the material cycle of life, death, and renewal peculiarly stimulates lasting youth, as the ageing materials reveal new landscapes and spatial qualities over time.

Exfoliator — The architecture experiences the connotation of anti-ageing, as the ageing materials reveal new spatial qualities over time.

Revival — Each layer consists of materials with different lifespans and ageing quality. As a wall thins, a casted window can be revealed and so does the private nature of an enclosed space.

Radiograph — Its analytical drawing records material layers and designed cracks, which suggests the notion of time.

Before & After — By determining areas of stability and fragility according to material longevity, cracks can become a part of the design. Chalk, which is a type of stone, crumbles against the supposedly softer clay.

New Ingredients — The project embraces and utilises the uncontrollable factors such as gravity, acidic rain and time, which in return become contributing spatial agents.

Unravelled Sequence — From its emergence, the typology of Jimjilbang (public bathhouse) has continuously evolved to accommodate its contemporary social context. With spaces to not only cleanse, but also to eat and sleep, the purpose of bathing has become secondary and Jimjilbang currently serves as one of the key hosts of social life in Seoul.

Exterior Restoration — (L-R) 0-30 years; 90+ years; 30-60 years. The building lifespan begins its course in 2030 for 90 years; corresponding to human lifespan with the prediction that South Koreans will have the longest life expectancy in the world by 2030, with the average of 90 years.

Anti-Ageing Method — The design is worked backwards in an anti-ageing way. Energy infrastructure serves as the skeleton of the building and is preserved post occupancy, allowing possibility for re-use if desired, as such elements will always remain necessary to the future generations.

Unravelled Section — The form of each crack suggests its timely fragmentation; with the intensity of cracks implying earlier future breakdowns triggered by the inhabitation of spaces and external forces of nature.

Crack Aftercare — By observing the disintegration with the crack monitoring gauge, the occupants have the authority over the usage of space, which changes along with the building timeline. Activities are not determined by physical boundaries but rather by etiquette and materiality.

Year 15 / Year 35 / Year 100 — The occupants celebrate the decaying process as the sleeping cubicles become storage space after 15 years and crumbling chalk provides soft flooring after 50 years. Some structures may appear strange in the beginning but over time, the exposed pipes would gain purpose as heat is released upwards from the disintegrating saunas underneath.

Year 10 / Year 30 — As the first layer of the building deteriorates, the spaces of public and private realms are blurred. The building no longer provides serviced hospitality and what used to be the kitchen for the restaurant gradually opens up to be commonly shared by all occupants.

Year 20 / Year 40 / Year 55 — The changing rooms that no longer provide privacy after 20 years are used as planting areas so the building is slowly overtaken by nature from both inside and outside.

Year 15 / Year 35 / Year 100

Materials may be ageing but the programme of the building is continuously reconditioned. Just as the most successful anti-ageing treatments, layers are being irritated in order to rejuvenate the spaces. Against the fast materialistic environment that subject South Koreans to profoundly experience ageing, the occupants acknowledge less of their own ageing process within this gradual and natural disintegration true to its material lifespan. The ageing architecture therefore paradoxically provides relative youth.

But ultimately, the project serves as a critique on the somewhat non-progressive values of anti-ageing.

Elva Choi

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Royal College of Art