David Chipperfield Architects has completed the Amorepacific Headquarters in the centre of Seoul, the permeable building is situated at a site which has been occupied by the company since 1956.

Called Amorepacific Headquarters, the 216,000-square-metre building is located next to a former US military zone that is being transformed into the spacious public Yongsan Park and a business district, which was part of a masterplan representing the largest high-rise development in Korea that substantially altered the urban fabric of the Yongsan district.

Image © Noshe

Designed as a clear, permeable and single volume, the massive structure includes big holes featuring big terrace gardens and public spaces. Described as "abstract and gestural" by the architects, the building's proportions have been carefully developed around a central courtyard to maximise the effectiveness of natural ventilation and daylight. 

Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Completed in 2017, three large urban openings are connected with this central void and with the exterior surroundings, providing views over the city and the mountains in the distance and therefore establishing a sense of orientation and belonging. 

Described as "hanging gardens", these openings give scale and allow nature to extend from the adjacent park into all parts of the building.

Image © David Chipperfield Architects

"The design elaborates the social, cultural and professional ambitions of the company by combining the workplace with other communal activities. By elevating the external layer of the façade, the entrance level opens up to the city and draws the public into a generous atrium," said David Chipperfield Architects.

"The courtyard situated above represents the communal centre of the company workplace, with the elevated gardens providing recreational space for those who use the building." 

"A rich mixture of public amenities such as a museum, auditorium, library, restaurants and childcare facilities ensures that the building is not only an efficient headquarters but also the public face of a vital company embedded in the growing metropolis of Seoul," added the firm.

Image © Noshe

The studio uses a diaphanous brise-soleil cladding on the façade, not only to facilitate the environmental performance of the building by providing shading and reducing heat load, but also to give the building a coherent and strong yet at the same time open and light form. 

"Metaphorically, the new building echoes the aspirations of a modern organisation, mediating between local and global, private and public, collective and individual, formal and informal, and in doing so establishing its dynamic identity," explained the studio.

Image © Noshe

Image © Noshe

Image © Noshe

Image © David Chipperfield Architects

Ground floor plan

Typical floor plan

Section

Project facts

Date: 2010-2017
Gross floor area: 216,000 m²
Client: Amorepacific Corporation
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects Berlin
Partner: David Chipperfield, Christoph Felger (Design lead), Harald Müller
Project architect: Hans Krause
Executive architect: HAEAHN Architecture, KESSON
Site supervision: Kunwon Engineeing Co. Ltd.
General contractor: Hyundai Engineering & Construction
Design engineers: Arup Deutschland GmbH
Signage: L2M3 communication design
Landscape architect: SeoAhn

Top image © Noshe

> via David Chipperfield Architects