studio starsis models its latest office space in seoul like a construction site

moving the outskirts of seoul, studio starsis’ latest office space is located in the THIRD POSITION CAFE building where it has worked on a project for three months in 2014. ever since, the team of designers has grown attached to the place and decided to transform the first and fourth floors into their personal working environment. 

studio starsis is designed to be a sharing space, with no walls separating people besides the ones in the bathroom
all images by hong seokgyu

the team at starsis decided to remodel both floors using metal and wood materials, as cost-effective and basic elements for reworking the spaces. although these materials are essential to maximizing the areas, they both lose their initial appearance as they are covered up or rid of during the remodeling process. therefore, the designers made sure to preserve their original quality all throughout. in the beginning, the studio was confident that it could easily redesign the place, however regretting shortly after finding out how much of a toil it was. ultimately, starsis started to buy the necessary raw materials. 

a conference room for guests, finished in white paint

‘concurrently, we visited a carpenter to practice assembling the furniture. at that point, we were done with all the basic preparations. we were filled with confidence once again that we could successfully carry on this task of remodeling, but had a feeling again things were not going to be easy; all the tasks had to be done purely with our hands,’ explains the team.

although completely an open-space, it is designed to maintain a certain level of privacy 

the shelf displays the samples for the interior design and is organized by categories

studio starsis seems a bit rough and crude, yet it diffuses its essence vibe that it gives a strong impression to people

the wallpapers, the painted ceiling and overall look of the office have an ‘exposed’ design

6-inch blocks have been used to create a series of partition walls 

wallpapers are not entirely peeled off and are re-coated, as a reminder of the previous space

the team wanted to give a strong impression of the bathrooms, hence coloring them in pure red

behind the printer and the shelves, there is a stairway leading to a café

the abandoned wooden doors are kept on purpose – reusing them from the dismantlement of the 4-story house

project info:

art director:  studio STARSIS
lead designers: park hyunhee, hwang inil
lighting design: LIMAS
location: 42, gaebong-ro 24-gil, guro-gu, seoul, republic of korea 
area: 2F–120sqm / 4F-99 sqm

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lea zeitoun | designboom