Changdong·Sanggye Start-up and Culture Industry Complex

Client: Seoul Metropolitan Government

Place: Seoul, South Korea
Open Competition: 2018

Type: Culture, Office, Residential

Area: 157,270 m²

Budget: Undisclosed

Team:

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Ivaylo Nachev, Carlos Orihuela, Victoria Recio Dura, Evgenia Krassakopoulou

Our proposal for the Changdong-Sanggye Start-up and Culture Industry Complex Proposal aims to provide a viable model for a complex, high-density program on a three-dimensional urban development. The proposal aims to obtain maximum compactness to improve the envi­ronmental performance of the complex, while providing a characteristic image that associates brick to the development of a new industrial complex through the accretion of the smaller working units which will generate an infrastructure for innovative industries in Seoul.

We use the metaphor of a brick aggregation to provide the branding image for the complex to represent these nascent industries, where every small productive unit contributes to the creation of a large-scale industry. Our proposal is to build the project entirely using a system of terracotta-clad precast system, which will enable a very serialized construction and produce a maintenance-free and thermally efficient envelope around the building, creating a complex which will operate formally as a variation on the accretion of bricks in different layouts.

The brick surfaces will also be used for creepers to grow around the facades from planters lo­cated on different levels (much like in some of the Kim Swoo-Geun buildings). The systematic vegetation of the envelope will contribute to retain natural humidity on the building envelope, in order to mitigate heat island effects, and contribute to clean the air by absorbing CO2, mi­croparticles and VOCs.

Both the roof of the towers and the roof of the lower block will be also extensively vegetated as collective gardens.

There are four primary components to the project:

Cinema Complex as Cultural Attraction. 36,172m2 with a very large volume due to the 12m height for the 8 cinema theaters, which are piled in 4 layers of two units. This is located along Madeul-Ro 13-gil, on the Northern side of the site, in proximity to the future Seoul Arena Complex, in order to exploit the mutual synergies. The volume will be treated with planters as a green envelope covered with creepers. The volume sits on top of a single story retail and community facility level to provide active frontage on the street level. The vertical circulation to the Cultural Complex is contained into a vertical atrium which provides access and exit to the Cinema Theaters with a double system of intertwined escalators for access and exit from the rooms. This atrium provides an acoustic buffer with the Start-Up facility. The cinema block is a huge volume with a totally blank façade. Our proposal is to construct the façade with a perimetral wall of large, prefabricated planters faced with terracotta veneer. These elements will enable to plant creepers, which will eventually cover the whole volume with vegetation.

Work space/Startup complex. 45,608m2 of Workspace distributed in 12 floorplates of 3,800m2 dividable into small units. We have located this program on the South side of the plot, along Madeul-Ro 11-gil, as the most prominent space in the site and most accessible from Changdong Station. The building aims for maximum compactness and flexibility of subdivision, organizing the floorplates around a central atrium which will create a spirit of collaboration and closeness between the tenants. On the North side of the atrium, the floorplates have the possi­bility to access directly the vertical atrium of the cultural facilities. The building contains which will provide sufficient area to meet the program requirements in a super-compact, super-inter­active, and super flexible organization. The office block will use two horizontal solid bands per floor, seeking a 50% of solid cover of the façade to provide optimal insulation without reducing the daylight ingress. Each floor’s facade is divided into two glazed bands per level: one view panel located between a 70cm high upstand and the intermediate band, starting a 1,85m from FFL, and another large band which brings daylight deep into the floorplate right below the exposed ceilings, provided with a light shelf which will reflect the daylight up to the ceiling, optimizing daylight in the building. The lower band will also be provided with a horizontal, con­tinuous planter which is aimed to turn this façade into a vegetated surface. The creepers will be specified as a deciduous species, which will cast more shadow in the summer, while allowing for the sun to enter freely during the winter.