Following the request to create "the most outstanding building in the region" of Baekhyeon-dong in south Korea, architect Moon Hoon designed the K-POP Curve.
The surrounding neighbourhood is divided in regular parts by its main café street. The streetscape in this area comprehends buildings that are very similar both in appearance and function: the lower and ground levels are commercial, and the first and second levels are usually residential.
Among all this homogeneity, the new K-POP Curve building definitively stands out both for its cross-road positioning and for its protruding balcony within the curving front.
This curved façade is suspended from the building's core structure, and creates a gap in between, which is used as a circulation area leading up to the roof. The roof is a large terrace created for hosting parties as it was asked from the client, a music agency owned by an IT company.
The architect expresses here his wishes: "My biggest concerns for the project were to maximize its character corner in the most impressive manner possible, and to create a natural flow of circulation leading up to the structure's rooftop". This objective is achieved by slicing the external surface in geometric forms that allow views of the staircase ascending to the roof, and by interrupting the smooth curved surface with a geometric frame that hosts the stage. This will then use the surrounding streets for the audience as well as the above-mentioned stair.
The K-POP Curve building plays well within the context of the street, fitting with the environment with its simple materials and finishing, but emerges as an unique piece for its design and new mixed arrangement of commercial and residential space, as the apartment located at the first floor is together with the stage.
July 4, 2014
Parsons
Pforzheim University
Design Skolen Kolding
British Higher School of Art and Design
LOFT 42
World Architecture Festival
