Thom Mayne's firm Morphosis has completed a new research and development tower for the Kolon Group, a company focuses on diverse activities ranging from textiles, chemicals, and sustainable technologies, to original clothing lines in the athletic and ready-to-wear fashion markets.

Named Kolon One & Only Tower, the 76,300-square-metre tower is situated in the Magok district, an emerging hub for technology and light industry that is revitalizing the Han-River area in south-eastern Seoul. 

Image © Jasmine Park

The tower, featuring a porous façade and flowing volume, includes flexible labs, offices, meeting suites, exhibition space, brand shop, cafeteria, library, lecture rooms, and other support facilities.

Commissioned by the Kolon Group in 2013, the design transforms one of Kolon’s own high-tech fabrics - called Aramid, into a new façade system that dramatically increases the material’s tensile strength. The tower's new façade looks like a new high-tech fabric working with high-level performance to balance shading and views. 

Image © Jasmine Park

The tower, using the distinctive brise-soleil system on the western façade, acts both as a performative and symbolic feature of the building; the façade units have been parametrically shaped to balance shading and views, and are made from a GFRP formulation.

"Fostered by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Magok district is conceived to function as an "industrial ecosystem" where a range of tech and information fields will co-locate to spawn new intersecting markets," said Morphosis. 

Image © Jasmine Park

"Kolon is one of the first firms moving their research and development operations to Magok, and the new building will set the standard for performance and design in the district. The four-acre project site sits adjacent to Magok’s central park – a prominent location for what will be the district’s first major completed building."

Image © Jasmine Park

Between the group’s 38 divisions, Kolon covers research, primary material manufacture, and product construction – a unique configuration that enables the company to capitalize on its own resources and advances, and to forge innovative collaborations between divisions. 

Image © Jasmine Park

Supporting this collaborative model was a primary goal behind the design of Kolon’s new flagship research and development facility. Bringing researchers, leadership, and designers together in one location, the building combines flexible laboratory facilities with executive offices and active social spaces that encourage greater interaction and exchange across the company.

Image © Jasmine Park

The Kolon One & Only Tower folds towards the park, providing passive shading to the lower floors. Bridging the three extending laboratory wings, this folding volume contains conference rooms and social spaces, augmented by flagship retail and exhibition galleries at the street level to communicate the brand’s vision to the public. 

Image © Roland Halbe

The architects used a transparent ground plane to extend the landscape into the interior, drawing light and movement towards an open pedestrian lane-way and grand entry. 

At 30m tall and 100m long, the expansive multi-story atrium serves as the building’s social center. Movement is revealed on all floors through the atrium's transparent liner system, which is comprised of massive, 8m ‘stretchers’ that allow for a changing display of Kolon’s own fabrics.

Image © Roland Halbe

The studio envisioned a holistic concept encompassing energy efficiency, resource conservation, and environmental stewardship, working in concert with education and employee health and well-being. 

"Together, the building's siting, spatial qualities, and technological innovations express Kolon’s investment in and commitment to sustainability," added the studio.

Image © Jasmine Park

Along with goals for LEED Gold and the most rigorous sustainability certification in Korea, the project focuses on the quality of the work environment through roof terraces, courtyards, and other measures that increase access to natural light and air for employees. Other sustainable measures include: green roofs; recycled materials; and utilizing a bubble deck slab that reduces the amount of concrete used by 30%.

Site plan

Plan 1

Plan B1

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

North Elevation

South Elevation

West Elevation

Top image © Jasmine Park 

> via Morphosis