Dulnyouk Publishers

2006 RIBA Worldwide Award

Location: Paju Book City, Korea

Client: Dulnyouk Publishing Co

Date: 2005 Completion

Total Area: 3,000m²

Budget: €3.65 million

Team credits:

FOA Partner in charge: Alejandro Zaera-Polo

Project Leader: Pablo Ros

Team: Jorge Arribas, Natalia Rodriguez, Nuria Vallespin, Luis Viu Rebes, Xavier Ortiz, Marco Guarnieri

Local Architect: Yo2 architects Young Yoon Kim

Structural Engineer: SDG (Structural Design Group), Tokyo

Services Engineer: BDSP Partnership, London

Traffic Engineer: Ninian Logan, Radlett

Cost Consultant: Davis Langdon&Everest, London

Construction Phase:

Associate Architects: yo2 Architects

Structural Engineer: ALT Structural Engineering Group

Electrical Engineer: Hana High Tech Co., Lyd

Mechanical: SeAH Engineering & Technology

Landscape: yo2 Architects

QS: yo2 Architects

The building hosts the editorial and administrative offices of Dulnyouk Publishers and is located in Paju Book City, a satellite town of Seoul designed strategically to centralise the editorial business in the region.

The site is a 2000m² lot on the western edge of Bukhansan hill, towering over the valley where Paju Book City is located. The masterplan’s regulations both restrict the built mass to an east west orientation, to avoid blocking air flow between the hill and the riverside to the west of the site, and a height limitation of three stories. The programme of accommodation includes archive and storage space, workspace for the executive and administrative and editorial operations, event space and an apartment for guests – a total area of 1800m².

The building is designed to maximise the potential of its suburban location in Paju Book City by turning the workspaces into a literal extension of the gardens surrounding the building. Intensifying the qualities of the strong orientation required by the masterplan, the building is designed as a folded screen between a south-facing green garden and a north-facing mineral garden, which literally extend into the two faces of the screen, one clad in wood and the other in stone. The geometry of the folded screen which constitutes the structure of the building is arranged in such a way that every floor is alternatively oriented towards either of the two gardens, producing a constant alternation of landscapes and finishes as one moves across the section of the building.