Sageun-dong in Seoul is a topographically isolated village. The southeast side of the village is surrounded by Cheonggyecheon stream and Hanyang University, while the north side is surrounded by the adjacent hill. The Saguendong-gil road that leads to the back gate of Hanyang University serves as the access way to the village, and yet pedestrian access to the village is difficult in many ways since the uphill path is very steep. Unlike any other neighborhoods in Seoul, the unique atmosphere of Sangeun-dong resulted from such isolated topography.
In designing a new fifteen-story headquarters for international luxury clothier Shinsegae International, Olson Kundig sought to create an iconic landmark in the heart of Gangnam-gu, one of Seoul’s largest districts. Completed in 2015, the building unites more than five hundred Shinsegae employees, who were previously spread between several buildings throughout the city. The program includes staff offices and meeting spaces, design studios, a rooftop garden and sculpture park, and ground-level retail and restaurant space that face onto a public plaza. Secure zoned entry provides public building access from the street and controlled private access for corporate officers and VIP guests via a side entry.
“House Embracing Sky” is the second residential project by Archiworkshop in MangWoo district in Seoul.
It was built on a site, which has land area of 108.9. The border of the site was invading to and by its neighbors’ building, and the road for construction was not completely secured. Allowing building coverage ratio of the site 50%, there was only 56m2 to build. We had a thorough consideration on various issues, such as maximizing building coverage ratio, minimizing any problem with neighbors and their lands, rational application of architectural slant line restriction for daylight, etc. Due to building code, inclined facade was formed. The inclined facade has issues of getting polluted due to dust storm and air pollution. At the beginning, we tried to hide this slope but then we switch our thought and developed to an idea ‘what if this can be well appeared in different way?’. The inclined facade turned into a mirror Facade, which embraces sky and capture a change of the scenery while the mirror mass is unrecognizable and disappears. The rough surface of black brick facade and smooth mirror facade gives a great contrast. The shaded portion of the black mirror captures the sky and such reflection can been seen by publics on the ground floor. The mass with one side slash might have been the biggest concern at the beginning, but it became the signature of the building.
Camouflage is a word which describes the action of particular creatures that disguise their color or form according to their circumstances for survival.
Some years ago, New York fell into love with vintage style hotels which are created by converting an old factory in an abandoned industrial district thus vividly represent the history of the 20th century industrial era. Those hotels are providing not only beautiful interior spaces demonstrating the passage of time but also new energy and vigor for local communities through innovative intervention on the desolate industrial area.
Disamobili, company that imports and sells luxury brands’ goods such as Poliform and Ligne roset, etc, is the furniture company that has long maintained the top spot.
It is the first time that they has built the headquarter building that is also used for exhibition space after they have established themselves on the furniture street in Nonhyun-dong.
We have completed a ‘water well’ inspired building near Seoul, which is home to a family run Shabu-Shabu restaurant.
The form of the building was taken from a disused natural water well which was revealed on site.
The water well was further incorporated into the functionality, where it is used to provide water throughout the building, as well as irrigation for the restaurants micro-farm on site.
Located next to the ancient southern gate to the city of Seoul, the Namdeamun Market is the oldest and largest market in South Korea. Since its beginnings as a government managed marketplace in 1414, it has become an important 24-hour destination for trade and a popular tourist attraction.
The site is located in an alley, a few blocks away from Dosandae-ro – a busy boulevard in Seoul’s Gangnam district. The area used to be a low-rise residential district in the past, but now rapidly transforming into a commercial district full of shops and restaurants. The existing building had a simple rectangular structure with a courtyard in the middle, using concrete blocks and blackened steel as a major finish material. The main interest in designing the building was to keep the existing materiality, yet to make enough alteration to accommodate the new program. The concrete block wall on the north was maintained in order to preserve the original materiality of the building, and the blackened steel was mainly used for the newly built walls.
At the early twenty century Spanish urban planner Cerda believed that the steam tram would dominate the future of transportation in Barcelona and as such designed the “Ensanche”, an urban grid with a 45 degree angle block so that the tram could have enough clearance to turn.
SCENERY AND DESIGN PLAN: A PERMEABLE LANDSCAPING LINKING 4 CORES
What does the Han River represent today, and what could be its future?
In this early 21st century, Yeouido Park is an experimental urban space dedicated to sustainable development. The Government wishes to make it a bridgehead for innovation, combining the best of low-tech and high-tech while promoting the rehabilitation of urban ecosystems and biodiversity.
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