SYK Skin
Spa
1500 ft2
New York City
2025
This project explores how architecture can serve as a mediator between cultural memory and contemporary urban life. Drawing from the spatial traditions of Korean homes and spas, the design reflects on how practices of rest, care, and communal gathering can be translated into a modern setting. Rather than treating tradition as a static reference, the project reconsiders these historic forms as adaptable frameworks—capable of supporting new modes of occupation while retaining their cultural resonance.
At the scale of form and plan, familiar architectural typologies are abstracted and redistributed across the floor plate. The project is conceived as a landscape of interventions rather than a series of discrete rooms, allowing moments of enclosure, openness, and transition to unfold gradually. Central to this strategy is the reinterpretation of the pyeongsang (평상), traditionally a raised platform located in a shared front yard and used for resting, conversation, and food preparation. Here, the pyeongsang is reframed as a contemporary spatial device: a shared platform within the interior that supports informal gathering and collective pause, offering a place of respite from the surrounding city. Treatment rooms are positioned as immersive and private spaces within this landscape, providing moments of retreat that contrast with the more communal zones.
Material choices reinforce these conceptual and spatial intentions through restraint and clarity. Polycarbonate paneling lines the walls, filtering light and softening visual boundaries while maintaining a sense of privacy. A minimal epoxy-painted floor establishes continuity and durability, grounding the space with a quiet, utilitarian presence. Together, the materials create an atmosphere that is both calm and tactile, allowing form, light, and occupation to carry the primary architectural expression.
At the scale of form and plan, familiar architectural typologies are abstracted and redistributed across the floor plate. The project is conceived as a landscape of interventions rather than a series of discrete rooms, allowing moments of enclosure, openness, and transition to unfold gradually. Central to this strategy is the reinterpretation of the pyeongsang (평상), traditionally a raised platform located in a shared front yard and used for resting, conversation, and food preparation. Here, the pyeongsang is reframed as a contemporary spatial device: a shared platform within the interior that supports informal gathering and collective pause, offering a place of respite from the surrounding city. Treatment rooms are positioned as immersive and private spaces within this landscape, providing moments of retreat that contrast with the more communal zones.
Material choices reinforce these conceptual and spatial intentions through restraint and clarity. Polycarbonate paneling lines the walls, filtering light and softening visual boundaries while maintaining a sense of privacy. A minimal epoxy-painted floor establishes continuity and durability, grounding the space with a quiet, utilitarian presence. Together, the materials create an atmosphere that is both calm and tactile, allowing form, light, and occupation to carry the primary architectural expression.
