Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
South-Korea-based Haeahn Architecture, in collaboration with New York’s H Architecture, has won the competition to design a new K-Pop Concert Hall in South Korea. Organized by the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation, the competition sought proposals for the renovation of the existing 1988 Olympic Gymnastics Arena, which is located within the Olympic Park in Seoul, Korea.
The arena not only holds historic significance with its role in the 1988 Olympics but is also “the premiere cultural performance venue of Korea,” with its location inside one of the largest man-made public parks in Korea.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
The design of the new K-Pop Concert Hall “was developed with the goal of establishing a new programmatic identity while preserving the historical and symbolic significance of the existing structure and façade as much as possible,” said the architects in a press release.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
The project will utilize the majority of the existing structure, but will expand the circular hall surrounding the edge of the building, to accommodate a wider range of retail and other event-related programs, as well as preparing it for any possible future expansions.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Much of the renovation will focus on the roof of the structure, which will be replaced by a “dynamic 3D truss system inspired by the form of a tornado, symbolizing the venue’s central role in the recent surge of global popularity of Korean pop culture” described the architects in a press release.
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
Courtesy of HAEAHN Architecture and H Architecture
As part of ArchDaily’s coverage of the 2016 Venice Biennale, we are presenting a series of articles written by the curators of the exhibitions and installations on show.
Commissioned by the Kuwaiti National Council of Culture Arts and Letters (NCCAL), Between East and West: A Gulf (BEWAG) began as series of questions – an exploration of points and territories that asks how the architect can imagine a scale beyond the national. The investigation of the hydrography of the Arabian/Persian Gulf and its islands reveals a realm forgotten between two coasts. Acting now as the liquid boundary between nations, the Gulf and its islands are the territories in which the identities of the coasts were initially formed. Prior to the discovery of oil, its waters were the source of livelihood for the region which was connected through trade, cultural exchange and commerce. The shallow body of water and the low sandbars that form its islands, create a shifting network of isolated and interconnected nodes. The Gulf island was inextricably linked to the movement of people and resources,yet of a scale and possible containment that allowed it to be planned and experimented upon throughout history. This meant that the island was the smallest plannable political and ecological space in the region.
As such, the Gulf is not a body of water, but a field site for the experimentation and creation of identity, culture, and ecology since antiquity. Its islands were utilized by their inhabitants, as well as those who viewed them from the coasts for the purposes of tourism, trade, hunting, and resource extraction. Shrines were built, wars were fought, and prisoners were exiled within their shores. Their scale and reliance on the hinterland of Arabia/Persia, or the distant coasts of India and East Africa, meant that these grounds were continually under the entrepreneurial gaze of the surrounding continents. The Gulf and its islands are part of one consistent landscape in which the edge condition and the notion of the limit are in flux. The result is a landscape defined by the ebb and flow of water and people, a conceivable realm whose utility was derived from the ability to imagine a purpose for islands.
As the states along the western coast of the Gulf developed in the twentieth century, the historical role of the body of water ceased to exist. Formerly a space of fluid movement and exchange, the Gulf became the dividing space between larger nationstates. The islands that dot this body of water are no longer part of a network, rather, they are isolated properties that serve only as divisive points of contestation, resolved by international arbitration. Yet the imaginary of the island did not end, and the logic of the island became so totalizing that it would go on to influence architectural and urban development within the region. The creation of artificial islands, free trade zones, isolated real estate ventures, or autonomous urban enclosures exhibit the ongoing fascination with the plannable. The island offers autonomy and totality but also a space of separation for reimagining the status quo. This trend continues today with the creation of the Palm and World islands in Dubai, the housing islands in Bahrain, and the new plan for Kuwait’s offshore territories, to name a few. The island in the Gulf has become the only space for imagining a scale beyond to the national, the only space for discourse or experimentation.
Tensions between regional countries have led to the investigation and the possibility that the Gulf islands hold an alternative to the current national framework. BEWAG takes these islands as possible points in a larger plan for the region. This year’s Kuwaiti participation at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia documents these islands and their histories, looking to understand the landscape that forms the Gulf, allowing the history of exchange and maritime fluidity to occur. It asks how the Gulf as a political and economic space can be re-planned through its islands, and reimagined as a space of exchange rather than division. The result is a master plan of islands – literally and conceptually.
An invitation was sent out and asked different architectural offices in the region to propose an instance within the larger framework of a masterplan. The notion of ‘masterplanning’ these islands, through variant architectural contributions, suggests that a territorial reimagining of a region can occur through the acupunctural structuring of points of contact and exchange. Such a concept runs precisely counter to the top-down planning approach of cities and countries in the Gulf, however such a subversion is necessary where a united effort is an unlikely proposition.
The exhibition showcases the islands of a “piecemeal masterplan”. This inhabitable map of a projective archipelago is not consistent, it is not holistic, it is not authored, nor is it a single vision. It leaves individuals and young offices from the region with two questions— what constitutes a masterplan and how can we plan for a new region?
The design submissions received range from the entrepreneurial to the ecological providing an insight into what is deemed an urgency that can be addressed by architectural agency. For a divided Gulf, a piecemeal masterplan of its islands offers the conscientious autonomy which is the only hope for political stability. By showcasing an alternate past and future for the region, the Kuwaiti Pavilion looks beyond the status quo of the national as unproductive framework for peace. The political issues associated with that framework are negotiated through an imaginary focused on exchange and connectivity rather than two coasts and the gulf between them.
Commissioner Zahra Ali Baba — National Council for Culture Arts and Letters / Kuwait(NCCAL)
Curators Hamed Bukhamseen, Ali Karimi
Art Director / Graphic Designer Fahad AlHunaif
Publication Coordinator / Editor Muneerah Alrabe
Project Designers & Research Architects Saphiya Abu Almaati, Shahab Albahar, Mai Albusairi, Nada Alqallaf, Rawan Alsaffar, Yousef Awaad Hussein
Financial Team Mohammed Al Ajmi, Mohammed Al Jameel
Administrative Team Abdullah Albeeshi (Head of team), Noora Al Musallam, Jaber Al Qallaf, Jassim Al Shamali
With exhibited design contributions from AGi Architects, Behemoth Press with Matteo Mannini Architects, Design Earth, ESAS Architects, Fortune Penniman with Studio Bound, PAD10, and X-Architects. With written contributions by Fahad Bishara, Ahmed Makia, Fatma Sahlawi & Rashid bin Shabib, Rand Abduljabbar & Maitha Mezroui, Nesrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi, Noor Boushehri, Abdulatif Al-Mishari.
When designing the interior for a newly-built apartment in Copenhagen, Studio David Thulstrup used over 300 antiques and bespoke elements to “avoid the usual collection of Scandinavian classics” (+ slideshow). (more…)
A trip to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming isn’t complete without viewing the majestic Lower Falls. When visiting the park in 2012, Stuart Burnett and his wife Patti captured this shot of Lower Falls legendary rainbow thanks to detailed research and planning. Of the experience, Stuart says, “You could hear the gasp from the other viewers as the rainbow formed. It was just magnificent!! It lasted for about 10 minutes … 10 minutes that I will never forget!!” Photo courtesy of Stuart Burnett. 🌈
+ To introduce new cultural and digital uses, proposed by the author of the project, that compensate the lack of cultural equipments within the area and that ensure a self sustained activity and maintenance of the building.
Methodology: Main landmarks in the research process for this building has been: 2002: Invited by Spanish Ministry of Public Works to a restricted competition to propose future use and architectural refurbishment of the Garcimuñoz Castle ruins. We analyzed the lack of public and cultural equipment in the area and the seasonal flows of visitors through national statistics.
2003-2005: Tight work with engineers to define a project that could be completely dismantled and reassembled elsewhere. Increase of the number of structural elements to reduce their weight. Research on the compatibility of micropiling with archeological remains. Research on bioclimatic techniques that could be implemented in the Castle. Research in this period was mainly base in design, calculation and analyze of existing buildings. In 2005 the execution project is presented and pre-approved.
2005-2008: Justification of legal requirements for public buildings. In 2006 the actual Technical Building Code became effective. During two years we had to proof to implied authorities how the design was accomplishing through alternative means all legal and safety conditions. Type of work was base in calculation (evacuation times, resistance of particular architectural elements).
2008-2010: Although contract with contractor is signed up at the end 2008 factual works in the site began on March 2010. In the meanwhile there was a tight work with the metal company FERROALUPAL producing first set of prototypes.
2010-2013: Site supervision works. Complexity of building and context demand mixed methodologies: building production, trial and error, manufacturing techniques, digital methods and plenty of prototyping.
Matteo Cainer Architects revealed their vision for the Suncheon Art Platform, a new arts, visitor and cultural center in South Korea. Invoking the historic symbol of the boundary city wall, the proposal “inverts this idea to protect the natural habitat from the ever expanding city.” The proposal was developed for the Suncheon Art Platform competition, won by Studio MADe, presenting a powerful alternate response to the competition’s brief.
The new cultural center is situated at the periphery of the Old City, among the traces of the old Suncheon Wall. Drawing upon the concept of the wall, the building rises up in one continuous sweeping motion, enclosing a garden and event space at its center. The circular volume rises at certain points to allow permeability between the center and its surroundings, presenting four “gates” for users to pass through.
Courtesy of Matteo Cainer
The center is programmed to host an array of cultural, educational and community events, both within the building envelope and the transformative garden. The building is comprised of a series of composite spaces, which have the flexibility to host everything from professional facilities to gallery spaces, social spaces and meeting points. The center will promote research, preservation and education, providing a place for visitors to actively engage and learn or alternatively, simply sit and disconnect.
Courtesy of Matteo Cainer
Dialogue between the building and the natural environment is encouraged through floor to ceiling glazing on both the external and internal facades. The green space enclosed within becomes an oasis, linking the space to the mountains and wetlands. The landscape is raised to provide a buffer to the urban condition which borders it, with the infill creating an internally facing amphitheater.
The design took sustainability into high consideration and delivers a passive internal environment. The partially exposed concrete envelope provides thermal mass, while the overall energy consumption is lowered by natural/displacement ventilation and efficient lighting systems. The building’s heat gain is regulated by digitally controlled external sunshades. The roof design is inspired by the traditional Korean Hanok, which facilitates rainwater collection and the reuse of grey water.
Everybody dreams to meet their favourite actor or singer, not to speak about their soulmate. And a bit of dreaming never hurts. But which one is the right man for you? Whom will you get along with?
A soulmate is not necessarily a lover, it could be a good friend or your best friend. You’ll have to share the same principles, passions, the same vision over the world. But beware, this kind of relationship it’s not as easy as it seems in the beginning! So, let’s keep dreaming…
Just for fun, take this quick quiz to find out which famous man is your soulmate!
Sig Nordal 