Residence L-ga is located in the end of the business district of Hwamyeong-dong, which is downstream of Nakdonggang River – the main river for Busan and Kyungnam province. In spite of the great scenery of the river, the site was left undeveloped for over ten years. We created a yard, which would allow encountering nature and neighbors. It is materialized by composing a section to connote the whole. The unite has L-shape, composed with three rectangular shapes. The roof of the lower level becomes the yard for the upper level. Three sides of more is always exposed in air, and the shape of the whole is established by the stacked stair design. By its systematization, each unite forms and identical shape whether it’s located on the 10th floor or the 24th floor. The yard formed with the method is a place where one experience nature and self-fulfillment, and also a space of possibility which opens up communication with the neighbors. It has secured economic feasibility by maximizing space and minimizing the finishing material. The high sustainability of space maximizes variety and minimizes low sustainable finishing materials, creating a tangent between the business owner and the tenants.
Although I am afraid that if I call it the owl, it will continue going by this nickname and it will be regarded within this context, I would nevertheless like to call it the owl. If you look at the building from the roadside, you may associate the shape formed by the angles of the setback regulation that has now been abolished with big head and two eyes.
I was surprised twice when I first visited the Daekyoung Factory. The first surprise was the beautiful scenery of the mouth or the river of the Nakdong River, and the second surprise was that the beautiful scenery could not be seen at all from the factory complex. There were three buildings in the complex, with two buildings lined up on parallel lines, making a rectangular plaza. The plaza was busy, with many workers passing by. The third building was placed perpendicularly with the plaza, blocking the scenery towards the sea. I felt sorry for the factory workers, who are so close to the beautiful scenery, but could not even see it.
The new ‘Busan Metropolitan Opera’ sits at the intersection point of the two bridges leading up to the competition site, tying the Opera into the city fabric while at the same time interweaving it with the picturesque waterfront promenade. The ensemble of opera and multifunctional theater further divides the site into a series of differentiated territories, each of which fully draws on the potential of a site suspended between city and sea:
Busan City suddenly had swollen by the influx of refugees during Korea War. The refugees had built irregular shape’s homes according to the topography of mountains in Busan City in a short time. Numerous alleys has stemmed from the relations of the houses. Now, 65 years after Korea war, the irregular houses’s urban fabric becomes a unique feature of Busan City. The view suddenly appearing through alleys and houses forms a distinguish urban landscape from other cities.
The trees disappeared without a trace. They probably had been settled like sardines along the topography of the mountain a long time ago. The place got filled with artificial trees of different height and size, placed in a proper distance from each other. Between the distance, a southern sea breeze would linger for a while or the midday warm light beating down from the northwestern high altitudes would collect in no time.
The basic concept of this project was the discourse about the overlapping of open and closed spaces and of public and private areas.
While the movie theaters are located in a mountain-like building, the Center’s public space is shared between an outdoor cinema and a huge public space which is called Red Carpet Area i.e. reception area.
Photography: Duccio Malagamba , COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, Markus Pillhofer
Client: Municipality of Busan: Kim, Byung-Heui; Cho, Seung-Ho; Chai, Young-Eeon; Seo, Myoung Seok
Planning: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, Wolf D. Prix , W. Dreibholz & Partner ZT GmbH
Design Principal CEO: Wolf D. Prix
Project Partner: Michael Volk
Project Architect: Günther Weber
Design Architects: Martin Oberascher, Jörg Hugo
Project Team: Sergio Gonzalez, Rob Henderson, Guthu Hallstein, Matt Kirkham, Veronica Janovska, Dieter Segerer, Markus Baumann, Jasmin Dieterle, Anja Sorger, Jana Kucerova, Jan Brosch, Ivana Jug
Won first prize at the UIA certified international competition “The Eco-center at the Nakdong River, Busan, Korea” sponsored by Busan City in July 2004 with the basic planning starting in December 2004. This was the first international competition sponsored by the Korean government, which held difficulties in many aspects regarding different standard and acknowledgement for architecture starting from receipt of the prize up till the completion of the building. Large issues were the low design fees (which covered design fee for both Japan and Korean teams based on standard level cost which were on three level rates set up in Korea according to content of work, as well as business trips and translation costs), architectural regulations, contract conformation of architectural design (we could not become the legal contractor), and not being able to get involved in the actual field management.
ELEGANT MOTION IN A BUILDING FORM – THE BUSAN METROPOLITAN CITY OPERA HOUSE PROPOSED DESIGN BY solus4
Solus4 of Kittery Maine and Jamestown Rhode Island proposed a design solution for the Busan Opera House that flows with the elements of culture and history of Korea.
Alfonso Lopez, lead designer for Solus4 describes the origins of their design: “A very special characteristic of Korean heritage is the linked uniformity of the art, history, culture and language. Much of this is based on the beauty and the pleasure that each element of culture gives to the individual and the community”.
To maximise the amount of parkland and allow large outdoor events to take place on the new island created in the port of Busan, South Korea, the Opera House is a compact design. The building is an interpretation of Korean stone art or Suseok. It is an intriguing, shiny, scaleless object. When not in use, this solid shape is entirely closed. In the morning, it opens up like the entrance of a space ship, a large gangway lowers down creating a monumental stair for boarding.
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