Kolon Industries Tower

The Challenge

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The brief for a new iconic office tower on a prominent site in the heart of Seoul, was for a mix of accommodation to house key departments for Kolon Industries, alongside more speculative office space for other associates industries. The base of the tower and associated landscape includes a number of multi-use shared spaces, alongside lower ground retail and leisure uses in sunken courtyard. At the ground plane the triple height lobby creates a grand and welcoming entrance that opens up to the adjacent greenspace and includes a series of shared public and private spill out spaces and retail.

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The Approach

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Inspired by the harmonisation of the past and future in Korean culture, the design aspired to be a pioneer in blending the richness found in traditional building techniques and the innovative processes of future technologies. The architecture of the tower is defined by the expression is of a distinct exoskeleton ‘space frame’, that can expand or shrink to adapt beyond its initial configuration and programme, for flexibility and adaptive re-use of the office spaces within.

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Context Driven

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The architecture was always considered in relation to the wider masterplan of which the tower is a key anchor.

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The surrounding buildings are zoned to become taller as they move towards the North along the main access and prestigious road address. Our building is situated at the Southern edge of the overall masterplan adjacent to the expressway - planned for conversion into an elevated linear urban park that will connect across several districts of Seoul and further enhance the groundscape and approach to the tower.

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An Iconic Attractor

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The design of the mid-rise tower is expressed in a bold form to serve as both landmark, an important focal point along the planned linear park, and to stand out as an iconic tower form, surrounded by its sometimes taller neighbours.

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The concept of a unique expressive form in the skyline aims to form a new iconic address in the city and act as both an attractor for the like-minded, technology and lifestyle innovator co-companies that the client wished to bring to the building and to share space with, but also as a grand backdrop that could attract footfall to the area for the mixed use retail, recreation and leisure activities planned at the ground and lower sunken levels.

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To enhance the connective ground plane further, the concept for landscaping returns the site to a series of open 'field like' green spaces, as a nod to the area's recent history of cultivated land plots, seen before Seoul's rapid expansion in the 1970s. Bringing back this greening strategy with its cultural and historic reference, alongside the new proposed expressway park intends to draw new visitors away from the traditional urban shopping areas, with a unique greener and softer experience in the heart of the city.

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