Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill #5 competition Sustainability Award winner - Gansam London

We’d like to take the opportunity to introduce you to the Sustainability Award winner of our Hospice - Home for the Terminally ill #5 competition – Jeongseung Lee from United Kingdom!

Jeongseung Lee

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

Gansam London is an architectural design studio established in London in 2023. It is the London branch of Gansam Architects & Partners, a global design group based in Korea with approximately 700 staff at its headquarters. The office was founded with the ambition to directly compete and collaborate in London- one of the world’s leading hubs for design talent- and to expand our presence as a global design company. We began with a team of three people, and after nearly three years, the studio has grown to a team of twelve members.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

We are particularly interested in ‘in-between-spaces’- spaces that are undefined or unmanaged, such as those between cities, between city and nature, or between buildings. We believe that these boundary conditions hold the potential for new possibilities to emerge. The starting point of this competition proposal also came from imagining what new opportunities could arise from neglected or overlooked in-between spaces within the city. One representative project is the Gugi-dong housing in Korea. Within the Collective form of Muti—housing, we introduced a shared yet personal courtyard between individual homes. This in-between space allows each resident to enjoy the privacy of an individual house while still being part of a collective housing structure. As a result, the design naturally encourages community formation rather than conflict between neighbors.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

We believe design is not simply the act of shaping form and space. Architecture is intertwined with numerous social, functional, and systemic issues, and architects are in a unique position to deeply examine these complexities and propose meaningful solutions. While designing a senior care facility in the past, we once created an attractive rooftop garden with the intention of encouraging stimulation and activity for elderly residents. However, during actual operation, bringing residents to the rooftop required a caregiver to accompany them. This created gaps in care for other residents, and as a result the space was not used as much as intended. This revealed the limitations of a simplistic assumption- that adding nature through landscaping would automatically improve wellbeing. It was also a failure on our part as an architect to fully understand the care system behind the space. This experience became an important foundation for the core concept of ‘Hospice in Motion’ While everyone understands the importance of nature and healing environments in hospice are, providing environments that vulnerable users can easily and comfortably access requires many interconnected factors to be considered. When architecture, social systems, and user needs are organically connected, social challenges can begin to be resolved. We believe architects must play a central role in shaping those connections.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

In real-world projects, it is often difficult for architects to fully realize their ideals and design philosophies. Competitions, however, offer a unique platform where architects can clearly express their ideas, share them with the world, and invite dialogue and empathy. Innovative ideas and discourses have the power to gradually transform society. Through this competition, we were able to re-examine both the limitations and possibilities within the care industry, and we hope to continue moving forward step by step from this point.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

This competition gave us the opportunity to address several issues we had long considered important. Moving beyond simply recognizing problems and actively working through possible solutions allowed us to once again feel the sense of being truly alive and engaged in the process. At the same time, competing alongside brilliant minds from around the world was an incredibly stimulating experience. We believe that achieving a good result will serve as an important momentum for future. Competitions are a valuable arena where architects can test their ideas, questions, and potential. If you are hesitating, we encourage you to start even with a small topic, and explore it yourself.