'Twin trees', a 17-storey office building in seoul, korea. located adjacent to the historical gyeoungbuk palace, samchong dong and the insadong area, the design seeks to reference and respect the pre-existing nature of the site by maintaing the flow of the circulation on both the street and basement level.
the plot, which was the former site of the demolished hankook ilbo building, features numerous small passages and alleyways which is an integral part of the location's urban fabric. in order to minimize disruption of this circulatory pattern, the design is read as two autonomous structures that share 7 basement levels below grade. the chasm in between the two volumes maintain pedestrian movement by providing exterior sitting area as well as a linear bar underground.
the overall forms of the towers were influenced by the shape of an old korean birch tree trunk, organic and sculpted as if moulded by flowing water. the reference allows for the structures to efficiently utilize the irregular site conditions which is composed of vaguely acute angles.horizontally running structural lines exaggerate the dips and bulges of the undulating facade.
project info:
principal use: office
total area: 65, 918.85 m2
storeys: 8 below grade, 17 above grade
structure: post tension slab, SRC
project team: woohyun kang, erik horn, yongeun bae, sungwha kwon,
jiyoung seu, kihyun park, nicholas locke, eric druse, joohyun park, juno ahn
structural engineer: dongyang structural engineers group
general contractor: hanil engineering & construction company
services engineer: han kook engineering co.
facade contractor: lucky ability curtain wall (seoul, korea)
facade consulting: simpson gumpertz & heger (new york, USA)
BCHO architects
