BUNDANG TWIN TOWERS

In 2019 Urban Agency was commissioned to design a mixed use building, containing residential, office and commercial functions, of over 50.000 m2 located at the entrance to the Bundang District, just outside of Seoul, Korea. The site is contextually unique, surrounded by a large nature area on 3 sides and lies at a fork between the Tancheon River and a small tributary. Accordingly, the driving force behind this project became the desire to take advantage of the site’s location and the buildings’ orientations to provide each resident with the best possible views of the natural surrounding landscape. In order to maximize each apartment’s direct views to the green context and to ensure good sun-lighting conditions, the two residential towers had to be rotated at 45 degree angles.

While the upper residential levels of the Bundang Twisting Towers were focused on the surrounding natural landscape, the lower office and commercial levels were designed in response to the adjacent context of the neighbouring urban block structure. The two lower levels are aligned to the street, punctured by two entrances that are both designed with small plazas, directly connecting and contributing to the local public realm. The following levels mediate the shift in geometry between the street level and the rotated residential towers. The slightly shifting floors dually created and opportunity to integrate a series of green terraces to be used by the tenants of the commercial levels. Atop of the commercial base, a large and lushly planted green roof terrace is also provided for the residents.

To emphasize the Bundang Twisting Tower’s characteristic geometry, the facade of each floor is composed of an upper horizontal band of concrete paneling and a lower variable band-patchwork of glass and coloured panels. The commercial levels have a higher percentage of glass to ensure optimal working conditions and the upper residential towers have a less open facade so to prevent over-heating in the warm summer months.

The towers are now fully constructed and are already being enjoyed around the clock by its diversity of users.

Project: Residential, Office, Commercial

Size: 54,000 m²

Location: Bundang, Seoul Capital Area, South Korea

Client: Shinyoung

Collaborators: Urban Agency, Siaplan

Type: Commission

Status: Construction begins in Spring 2019

Team: Heechan Park, Henning Stüben, Gaspar Cánepa, Scott Grbavac, Minjae Kwon, Borja Santurino, Anna Yancheva

Photo credit: Changmook Kim