Who participated in renovating the office building?
When hearing about turning an old building into a brand headquarters, one wonders who took on which roles and how they divided the work. In particular, the mention that the construction took a long time leads to the guess that there must have been a search for the right people.
After purchasing the building, it was left vacant for over 1 year while searching for the right person to take charge, and spatial directing was handled by Lee Hyein Design Studio.
There is a 1-year gap between buying the building and renovating it. Lee Myung-shin purchased the building in 2021, and the construction itself took more than 1 year[1]. The gap in between was not time caused by delays, but time spent looking for the right person to entrust with the remodeling[2].
The place where the person was found was not a construction site, but a party. In the process of planning the Frieze after-party last year, Lee Hye-in came saying she wanted to hold the event here, and following the connection made that way, the building project was proposed to her[3]. Designer Lee Hye-in participated in the remodeling in that way, and spatial directing was carried out together with Lee Hyein Design Studio[4][5].
The roles are divided into three. For planning, LOW CLASSIC and Lee Hyein Design Studio were jointly named, and spatial design was also handled by Lee Hyein Design Studio. The construction work of turning drawings into the actual building was the responsibility of AA Studio Homi. In addition, Studio Geumeundong participated as a collaborating artist for kinetic art dealing with moving sculptures[6].
That is how the Mirae Building, built in the 1960s, became the headquarters of LOW CLASSIC[7]. hmmm, it was a meeting between the party who kept the building empty to find the right person and the party who approached wanting to hold an event in this space.
It has not yet been confirmed specifically which parts of the building each studio took charge of, nor when the construction was completed.