Hongdae, the region of Hongik University, has been the ‘must visit’ region in Seoul for decades, due to its aggregate of young Korean culture. Food, fashion, and music distinguishes the area from other regions of Seoul, creating the ‘The Feel of Hongdae’, the unique community brand.
This research investigates urban condition of this region, trying to find how architecture affected its market. Architectural analysis of its urban interface resulted that former multi-family houses converted into shops benefited from its multi-level façade exposed to street, maximizing the accessibility to potential customers. The economic analysis of semi-basement floor and raised first(ground) floor shows buildings along Wausan-ro double up the ‘ground level’ shop values.
Small no-brand shops in converted and split shops had been building the Hongdae community brand, transformed the building condition adapted to the market; adding external stairs, offering optimized store size to each level and optimized location of each shopping type.
The analysis of economic value of split store properties reveals inter-relationships between shop sizes, stair locations, uses and the commercial value of the building, which presents how to maximize the commercial value of the street, while retaining the community brand, slowing down gentrification of the region.

• Myung Hwan Choi(Yonsei University)
• Jooeun Sung(Yonsei University)