{"id":534502,"date":"2026-04-16T17:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T17:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T17:51:16","slug":"sosokki-anac-designs-south-korean-cafe-to-evoke-ancient-ruins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/534502\/","title":{"rendered":"Sosokki Anac designs South Korean cafe to evoke ancient ruins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monolithic brick<\/a> volumes intended to evoke “the ruins of an undiscovered ancient civilisation” conceal this cafe<\/a> in South Korea<\/a>, designed by local architecture studio Sosokki Anac.<\/p>\n

Named Abogoga, the cafe and bakery sits alongside the Han River on the outskirts of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province.<\/p>\n

\"ExteriorSosokki Anac created a riverside cafe and bakery in Gyeonggi Province<\/p>\n

Sosokki Anac<\/a> divided the cafe across three red-brick forms, designed to appear separate from the exterior but united by a high, angular exposed-concrete interior.<\/p>\n

“I was interested in creating a dreamlike, almost fictional atmosphere that merges universal familiarity with something unfamiliar,” said design lead Gi-Tae Chung.<\/p>\n

\"AngularAngular brick volumes evoke “the ruins of an undiscovered ancient civilisation”<\/p>\n

“The project was conceived as the ruins of an undiscovered ancient civilisation, buried beneath the glaciers of Alaska \u2013 as if the traces of a forgotten world had resurfaced after the reset of human history,” Chung told Dezeen.<\/p>\n

“Red brick was chosen for its closeness to a primordial architectural material \u2013 something ancient, tactile, and deeply rooted in human construction,” he added.<\/p>\n

\"AbogogaThe cafe has an angular, exposed-concrete interior<\/p>\n

To create what Chung described as a “sense of exploration”, Abogoga is accessed via a short bridge across a rocky patio, leading into the elbow of an L-shaped plan designed to prevent the whole interior from being revealed at once.<\/p>\n

This narrow entrance opens into a double-height hall, with a large counter for baked goods at its centre and a coffee bar lining its southern edge, both finished in stainless steel to contrast the raw concrete ceilings overhead.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ceintuur<\/p>\n

Studio El\u00e8n Letort transforms 1920s Amsterdam cinema into “easygoing and approachable” restaurant\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Within a more narrow wing to the east, low-level windows face out towards the river next to a rectilinear brick structure, with arched openings at its base framing additional seating and plants on its roof.<\/p>\n

Concrete and steel walkways connect to a series of seating mezzanines and terraces, along with bathrooms positioned above a ground-floor kitchen framed by a brick arch.<\/p>\n

\"BakeryStainless steel contrasts with the concrete ceilings<\/p>\n

“Although the project is located along the lower reaches of the Han River, we felt that the view here was not inherently dramatic,” explained Chung.<\/p>\n

“Instead of relying on it, we chose to construct a closed, introverted mass that deliberately conceals the river on approach. Only once inside does the view suddenly open up, creating a moment of release – a spatial climax,” he added.<\/p>\n

“Rather than revealing the interior all at once, the spatial sequence unfolds gradually through maze-like circulation and layered volumes, encouraging a sense of exploration.”<\/p>\n

\"CafeThe use of red brick extends to the interior<\/p>\n

Based in Seoul, Sosokki Anac is an architectural and interior design studio founded in 2004 that operates under the culture and arts conglomerate Sosokki Group.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in South Korea, architecture studio Sukchulmok recently also used sculptural red-brick forms to create the Parconido Bakery Cafe<\/a>, while Centre Pompidou Hanwha by Wilmotte & Associ\u00e9s<\/a> is preparing to open in Seoul.<\/p>\n

The photography is by Jung-gyu Kim.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Monolithic brick volumes intended to evoke “the ruins of an undiscovered ancient civilisation” conceal this cafe in South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,157143,43353,41611,10381,1120,96,40339,40340,150834,11998,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-534502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-bakeries","12":"tag-bricks","13":"tag-cafes","14":"tag-concrete","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-sectionall","18":"tag-sectionarchitecture","19":"tag-sectionexclusives","20":"tag-south-korea","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}