KPF unveils plans for a new neighborhood in Seoul

Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) has unveiled an formidable design for The Parkside Seoul, a brand new, mixed-use neighborhood in Seoul that can deliver ample residential house, accommodations, and retail, to the close by Yongsan Park. The event, designed for Eleven Growth & Building, will cowl 5.2 million sq. ft. KPF’s prior work within the South Korean capital contains town’s tallest constructing, the 1,800-foot Lotte World Tower, accomplished in 2017, and the Bundang Doosan Tower, amongst different industrial, transportation, and cultural initiatives.

The Parkside Seoul’s design was formed by current neighborhoods and by its namesake, Yongsan Park. The location is positioned north of the Han River, with Yongsan Park to the west and Mount Namsan to the east.  The park was previously a part of the USA’ navy headquarters in South Korea, and within the early twentieth century, was base to Japanese colonial forces. This summer season, a portion of the park designed by the Dutch panorama architects West 8 and South Korean architects IROJE, opened it the general public for the primary time in over a century. The rest of the park has but to be turned over from the USA. 

Centered close to the southern finish of the positioning, the event’s retail house was conceptualized as being divided and “pulled aside,” staggering the massing of the storefronts round a pedestrian thoroughfare that  permits entry to the park, bringing nature into the event. 

Residential blocks are positioned close to the northern finish of the positioning, and had been designed as a collage whose colour and materiality would mimic close by, lowrise housing. KPF design principal Trent Tesch described the first problem of the challenge, notably given its scale, as: “How will we create a material?” After wanting on the current low- and mid-rise buildings surrounding the park, Tesch mentioned that the design crew “started by making a central backbone within the type of a landscaped linear park, conceptually extending the greenery of Yongsan Park into the challenge.”

The Parkside Seoul’s residential towers are “joined at a central core, leading to a layered exterior envelope,” which, based on the architects, is typical for South Korea. The towers’ taller design was knowledgeable by the vertical constructed atmosphere bordering the southern finish of the positioning. The combined massing will lead to a sequence of mixed-height buildings, scaling retail house to a pedestrian scale for an lively avenue life.

The event’s southwestern nook will embrace seven officetel towers, a kind of constructing that accommodates each workplace and residential house, sometimes studio-sized flats. These officetel towers are visually according to the taller current buildings and deliberate residential towers. Impressed by the “rippling” of the water on the close by Han River, the facades of the buildings will seem to fold.

Persevering with the theme of organically-inspired varieties, Parkside Seoul’s japanese facet will likely be formed by accommodations with pixelated facades. The resort massing will mirror the construction of the adjoining current neighborhood, however differentiate itself from the extra “inflexible” facades.

A give attention to prioritizing the pedestrian expertise weaves by the challenge, and is essential for the success of the deliberate storefronts and continuity with the park panorama. Tesch summarized the method in saying that the crew “checked out materiality, texture, colour, form, and dimension collectively to create an genuine, intimate, and timeless expertise.”