Co-working space open in Yongin hails domestic and foreign youth crowds

Rent-out greenery on the entrance shelves

Young farmers' Bios 

Ten large lockers 

 

 

Fancy a 100m tall space for hard-working Yongin youth, housed in a taller-yet tower encasing sewage treatment works behind the Poeun Art Hall nearby Jukjeon Station? You may or you may not, but it's not this or the partition and wall structure that make this place a memorable and atmospheric experience: it is the younger locals who find, trust in and use this space. The Yongin Youth LAB, consisting of three branches, Giheung and Cheoin and Suji, simultaneously opened in 2020 in Yongin, with a map and transport page for each of the branches.

 

Operated 6 days a week, each branch has a selection of rooms called LABs in a Korean-English wordplay (In Korean "LAE" signifies "I wanna" and has a similar ending sound to LAB). Here we concentrate on what the Suji branch offers.

 

As with so many new names recently given in colloquial Korean deftly woven into them, to name names, there are Wanna Work LAB (co-working room), Wanna Drink LAB (communal cafe), Wanna-do-all LAB (multipurpose room), Wanna Film LAB (media room), Wanna Eat LAB (communal kitchen), Wanna Relax LAB(lounge), Wanna Collect LAB(Free Seminar Space). The co-working room, whose use was designed for start-up, is one of the highlights, next to the shiny entrance on 2nd floor - which features ten spacious lockers; rent-out greenery in pots; several short bios by young farmers in Yongin area.

 

Just sample a couple more of this : In the Wanna Work LAB, a place for start-up, the max. number of people who can work together is up to twelve, with equipment available (built-in closet) For this purpose, this co-working room is currently housing nine companies, mostly 1-person enterprises, some of who have registered right there in the Suji LAB for convenience. In the communal cafe you can enjoy coffee made with a machine and a drink (refreshments not available at this stage of Coronavirus), also a water purifier for quality water. The media room and the kitchen are closed due to the pandemic.

 

Maybe you are curious about Yongin Youth LAB's possible usage by foreigners in Yongin: So far, the Suji LAB has had some foreigners from Dankook University nearby, and retains no-limit policy to people from overseas no matter if they live in Yongin, study there, or work there.

 

The meeting hours should include the preparation and clean-up process; any meeting for political, religious or commercial purpose is cut off. A singular party can use this space for less than 4 hours a day, with more than 2 people. Application is possible only via the homepage for the Multi-purpose room and a few others. Other spaces inside the Suji LAB are freely accessible to people who come and go.

 

Choelgu Lee, Yongin Youth Lab manager at Youth Affairs Division and Youth Welfare Team, told me about a memorable experience: the pals(his "chin-gu-deul" translated into English) who were preparing for the notoriously difficult teacher certification examination to become primary school teachers used this space to study frequently in winter, were successful and got appointed. What's more, they came back for some desirable programmes organized by the Suji LAB!

 

Lee says as all these facilities are for free, he's hoping more people would come and just use the space for themselves. It's probably this type of kind-hearted measures that has recently decorated Yongin with a silver Whole City Award as well as a Criteria Award for LivCom Awards, sponsored by UNEP and managed by The International Awards for Liveable Communities since 1997.

 

You can visit www.yylab.kr for more information and announcements.