Re:Ground: A New Approach to Art-Centered Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Architecture and Institutional Transformation in Korea
Jooyoung Lee
Art Market Studies
About this Item
- Title
- Re:Ground: A New Approach to Art-Centered Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Architecture and Institutional Transformation in Korea
- Contributor Names
-
Lee, Jooyoung (Author)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Art Market Studies (Degree granting institution)
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Mahler, Luise (Thesis advisor)
- Date
- 2025
- Degree Information
- MA Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2025
- Department: Art Market Studies
- Advisor: Luise Mahler
- Committee member: Paul Melton
- Abstract
- This thesis conceptualizes art-centered adaptive reuse as a cultural and institutional strategy and examines how abandoned architecture can be reinterpreted as socially and symbolically meaningful artistic space. While vacant buildings in urban environments are often perceived as indicators of decline, they reveal deeper tensions generated by competing forces of economic development, cultural preservation, and the erosion of community relations. To address these issues, the study theorizes artistic adaptive reuse not as a form of physical restoration, but as a cultural practice that reconstructs urban memory and identity.The transformation of the former Seoul Station—originally a colonial-era railway terminal—into Culture Station Seoul 284 serves as the central case study. By analyzing its architectural preservation, curatorial programming, and administrative governance, the research investigates how the site was reconfigured into a state-supported cultural institution. A comparative analysis with Tate Modern, Musée d'Orsay, and MoMA PS1 further situates the Korean model within international frameworks of cultural repurposing, illuminating both its distinctive characteristics and its institutional limitations.Building upon these analyses, the thesis proposes Re:Ground, an arts-based urban regeneration consultancy. Re:Ground offers a practical framework—structured across the stages of diagnosis, design, implementation, and evaluation—that enables underutilized spaces to transition into sustainable cultural infrastructure. By translating the study's theoretical insights into a viable operational model, the project demonstrates that arts-based adaptive reuse extends beyond architectural transformation and functions as a sustainable process that reshapes cultural value, community relations, and institutional structures in contemporary cities.
- Keyword
- Urban planning
- Abandoned architecture
- Adaptive reuse
- Art-centered adaptive reuse
- Cultural planning
- Cultural regeneration
- Urban regeneration
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- This item must not be sold to any third party vendors.
- Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_001043
- Submission ID: 10472
- URN: ISBN:9798273330931
- Related Materials
- Also available from ProQuest
- Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 87-07
- Masters Abstracts International
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,
Citation
Lee, J. (2025). Re:Ground: A New Approach to Art-Centered Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Architecture and Institutional Transformation in Korea [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/669377
Lee, Jooyoung. Re:Ground: A New Approach to Art-Centered Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Architecture and Institutional Transformation in Korea. 2025. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/669377
Lee, Jooyoung. "Re:Ground: A New Approach to Art-Centered Adaptive Reuse of Abandoned Architecture and Institutional Transformation in Korea." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2025. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/669377