Dedicated space for 12- to 16-year-olds on second and third floors of Seonyu Library gets a refresh
A 10-member youth panel guided the redesign, which reorganized the space into a making zone, game zone, movie zone and music zone
Yeongdeungpo-gu has reopened Sairo, a dedicated space for teenagers aged 12 to 16, at Seonyu Library in Seoul. The revamped facility welcomed visitors again on Wednesday.
Sairo is a specialized space where teenagers can freely explore reading, crafts, music, cooking and other activities. It first opened on the second and third floors of Seonyu Library in 2024 with 1 billion won ($746,000) in funding from the Ssiat Foundation. This round of renovations cost 80 million won and aimed at improving user satisfaction and addressing inconveniences identified by regular visitors.
What sets this redesign apart is that teenagers were involved from the planning stage. A 10-member panel of 13- and 14-year-olds, called the Space Experience Improvement Team, shared their firsthand experiences and proposed changes for each area.
The panel called for small, cozy nooks where visitors could focus alone, table arrangements better suited to hands-on projects, and soundproofing to contain noise from gaming and band practice. The district incorporated those suggestions into the actual design and facility improvements.
The main zones were also reconfigured to better match how visitors use them. The making zone expanded its display area for finished works and added four-person tables to make creative activities more convenient. The former lounge platform was split into a game zone for gaming and a movie zone for small-group screenings.
The music zone received a separate door to improve sound insulation, while the lounge zone gained a dedicated area for listening to LPs and CDs as well as a board game corner. The baking zone was upgraded with a dough-proofing space to make cooking activities more practical.
"Through this reopening, we will operate Sairo so that it becomes a place where teenagers can discover their interests and connect with their peers," a Yeongdeungpo-gu official said.
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