Two S. Korean builders win huge deals from UAE

The project formally announced by local government in Seoul, is being developed by a wing of Samung, C&T and is intended to stand 690 metres tall with 133 floors. The design has yet to be publicly finalized and has changed substantially since it was last featured with the current version being resplendent with curves, a far cry from the angular twin towers that were previously mooted.

It will contain not only a luxury hotel, grade A offices, retail outlets, a convention centre and an aquarium but also a viewing platform where visitors will reportedly be able to see the border of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea. How the secretive communist regime reacts to this remains to be seen.

The Mayor of Seoul, Oh Se-hoon, has recently devoted much of his time to secure the finances for the $2.4 billion dollar project and yesterday finally managed to achieve from 23 collaborating Korean property companies a memorandum of understanding that the funding will be forthcoming and the project can finally get off the table.

Driving this politically is the desire to engage in a massive job creation scheme with Samsung C&T promising that up to 80,000 new positions will eventually be created by it in a country that is now headed into recession. In Korea, Keynsian economics clearly includes skyscrapers meaning that at least Koreans will have something to show for their spending splurge in the future.

It should be interesting to see which other municipal authorities around the world try and take the same approach to help stimulate their local economies.

The Sangam DMC Landmark Tower has an estimated completion date of 2015, a number that has slipped by two years since 2008, but Korea long has a reputation of dreaming big, and then waking up to the harsh light of day.

Funding Secured For 690m Tall Korean Scraper

From the Sangam DMC Tower, Yongsan Dream Tower and Yeouido Parc1 to the Samsung-dong Green Gateway, a rush of new major construction projects are under way, but a majority of the work has been awarded to overseas architects.
U.S.-based SOM is covering the Sangam DMC, Busan Lotte World, and the Yongsan Dream Tower projects, London-based Richard Rogers is directing the Parc1 development and Japan-based Nikken Sekkei is in charge of the new green building in Samsung-dong, to name a few.

If these projects are innovative, compelling and worth a fortune, why not hire domestic architects?

Industry experts say the answer is simple: not enough professionals with experience in high-rise architecture.

It would be much cheaper to hire domestic firms, but there aren’t enough talented people here with a proven track record,” said an official of Hyundai Industrial Development & Construction, which is currently building a 72-story apartment in Busan. “Not many have solid experience with complicated structures.”

The developer hired Daniel Libeskind, who created the master plan for Ground Zero in New York, to design the skyscraper.

The official said that contracting Korean architects costs only about 50 percent of the fee overseas firms charge. But despite the immediate cost reduction, experienced developers say that the merits of working with renowned foreign architects are worth the money.

Companies borrow their names as a way of upgrading the image of the building, which helps them draw investment and tenants.

These projects are huge. They’re worth billions of won, so builders and developers aren’t going to take a risk by experimenting with less-known professionals,” said an official of Lotte Construction & Engineering.
This fixed mind set is troubling local architects as they’re stripped of the opportunity of even getting a review of their portfolio.

They have official biddings, but that’s merely for show because the industry is already fixed on relying on global names,” says Kim Heung-soo, an architect at Seoul-based Gana Architects.

Such discrimination is leading more voices to call on at least the government-granted projects to be handed to homegrown talent.

Some industry watchers say that the architects of landmark artifices are selected through an open competition, although there may be elements in the process that may favor proposals so ti is not fair to give Korean architect on a quota system of a sort.

Foreigners Contribute to Seoul Skyline

Ground work on the project which comes from the doodled on beer mats of Austrian architectural firm Coop Himmelb(l)au began in 2008, with the groundbreaking ceremony coinciding with the opening of the 13th international film festival which was hosted by the city.

Situated close to the waterfront the cinema will have what might possibly be the worlds longest red carpet which stretches from a jetty all the way to the building and winds around the spiralling walkways of the building.

The building itself is designed to be open air and features a spectacular cloud like roof which appears to float over the complex. The roof space is saturated in tiny LED lights which when lit make it seem like a virtual sky adding to the feel of the 4000 seat open air space.

Beneath the undulating roof sits the various elements which make up the rest of the complex which include studios, office space, creative spaces, as well as a convention centre for use by the Pusan International Film Festival.
There will also be a 1000 seat multi function music, performance, concert and cinema space sitting at the heart of what is being called a 4 screen "cine mountain" which will be for public use outside of festival season. All of the spaces are connected by raised walkways which snake their way through the structure.

The complex is constructed mostly from steel which due to the open air nature of the building is exposed and has a lattice work appearance the glazed roof perches on top.

The project is due to be complete in October 2011 and is due to open the following month.

LEDs Light Up Unique Korean Cinema

Travelers who visit the station nowadays may be well acquainted with the busy and high-tech station connected to subway line 1, but right next to the modern station stands an antique building that bears the name “Seoul Station.” This was the original station our ancestors used, and despite the historic meaning it holds, many visitors don’t appreciate the now-deserted building, as the train tracks skip the original architecture and connect directly to the fancy platform and the newly built station nearby.

There is no doubt that Seoul Station is a hallmark station in Korea, but it’s not modern or traditional enough to be one. I think it should be upgraded to represent Korea,” Lee Jae-young, a 26-year-old student, told The Korea Times.
In order to do so, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced last June that the station would be reconstructed into a representative cultural space. The ministry has been taking charge of the station from 2007 after the construction of the KTX station, and is determined to transform the area into a cultural hub.

Future Plans

In order to revive the Seoul station that just sits there with no purpose, the ministry has plans to revamp the area altogether and transform it into a cultural hub, similar to that of France’s Musee d’Orsay.

Ever since the ministry took over the old building, there have been various cultural events held around the area ― including fashion shows, art performances, festival and music concerts ― attracting spectators and foreigners.

The numerous events held around the old station have proven that it has potential as a cultural space,” an official from the ministry said through a statement.

The ministry announced that it would take approximately 20 billion won to reconstruct the building and also add other cultural facilities such as exhibition halls, museums, restaurants and concert halls. It would take three years and be able to greet the public for the first time in March, 2011. With plans of opening a railroad to the Incheon International Airport in 2010, the ministry is expecting to attract visitors here and also from abroad to the station and offer the essence of Korean culture and history.

Visit the reconstruction site now and you can find an interesting photo exhibition surrounding the whole construction area. The photos date back to the 1900s, when the station began as Namdaemun station, to the days after Independence and the Korean War.

Along with the photo exhibition, the ministry also set up transparent acrylic boards for passers-by to examine the progress of the construction.

Seoul Station summarizes Korean history. It was not just a train station, but the face and gate of Seoul. It has seen so much throughout the years and it’s important and meaningful that we are reviving the station as a place that

Koreans can enjoy and appreciate,” Chung said.

Reviving Seoul Station as Cultural Hub

South Korea recently announced plans to construct a sustainable super-city that stands to eclipse the size of Masdar in the UAE. Designed by Foster + Partners together with PHA and Mobility in Chain, the Incheon mixed-use development will be a model of self-sufficent sustainability and will serve as an epicenter for the development of green technologies just north of Seoul.

Upon completion the Incheon eco-city will comprise a community of 320,000 residents centered around a spine of transportation and green industry. The hope for Incheon is that the area will become a high-tech research and development center for sustainable industries that manufacture photovoltaic panels and wind turbines. True to this ideal, the masterplan incorporates cutting-edge green technologies such as biomass energy generation, hydrogen fuel cells, and hydroponic roofs.

Slated for construction over the next 10-15 years, Foster + Partner’s design for the eco-city will include both high and low-density developments that shoot off from a central transportation spine connecting three main sites. A Light Rapid Transit system will connect a center for Korean economic cooperation in the north of KangHwa with the southern half, combining green technology industry with community, cultural and residential buildings.

Currently the area is predominantly agricultural and supports approximately 35,000 people. Terraced farming will be replaced in part by green roofs, thus minimizing loss of agricultural space. The layout of roads and buildings will follow the natural topography of the land, and buildings will be kept under 50 meters in height. The smaller roads and pedestrian avenues extend from the central transit hubs, creating a tightly-knit community with easy access to transportation.

Grant Brooker, a design director at Foster + Partners, said: “Working at a very strategic level, we saw the masterplan as an opportunity to explore the sustainable potential of this extraordinary island, exploiting its pivotal position close to Seoul and its rugged landscape. We are delighted that the judges share our vision and, along with our collaborators at A+U, PHA and MIC, we hope to develop the project into the next stage.”

Inhabitat

Aiming at providing equitable environmental solutions to domestic and international markets, the fourth edition of Eco Expo Asia has received strong support from environmental professionals in the commercial, governmental and non-governmental sectors.

Up till August 2009, group pavilions from the European Union, France, Hong Kong and the UK have been confirmed. These have been organised respectively by The European Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong, the French Chamber of Commerce & Industry in Hong Kong, the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, Hong Kong Environmental Industry Association and the UK Trade and Investment North West International Trade Team. All these pavilions will feature the latest environmental products, technologies, concepts and high value services at the fair this autumn.

Among the confirmed pavilions, the UK Pavilion will feature more than 14 British suppliers. Exhibitor highlights include environmental design services, air-monitoring equipment, organic products for farming, biodiesel processing equipment, energy usage monitoring systems, plus energy and carbon management services.

“We are excited about demonstrating our services to a new audience. Eco Expo Asia will provide CJ P with a wonderful opportunity to meet like-minded thinkers and will foster a fertile atmosphere to discuss and develop sustainable ideas for the building industry,” noted UK exhibitor, Mr Paul Clark, Managing Director of CJ Partnership.

In accordance with government initiatives to transform the Pearl River Delta into a quality green living area, close co-operations are being sought with Shenzhen, Fujian and Macau municipal officials to encourage more participation from China.

Two new thematic zones to be launched at 2009 fair

In line with Hong Kong government’s initiatives to promote clean transportation and the use of eco-friendly vehicles, the organisers of Eco Expo Asia will launch the exciting new Electric Vehicle Zone. Hong Kong based Portapower (HK) Ltd will be displaying their E-motorcycle, E-bike and battery packs in this special area.

Another new thematic zone to be launched this year is the Service Industry Zone. Participants in this enclosure include the Hong Kong Institute of Architects and the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers, which will introduce energy efficient applications in architecture, eco-friendly materials for construction and fitting, environmental project equipment and fitting, as well as eco-friendly landscaping designs.

HSBC Eco Asia Conference to focus on Green Production, Green Transportation and Green Building

The highly regarded HSBC Eco Asia Conference returns once again with leading international scholars and industry professionals to hold a series of in-depth discussions on Green Production, Green Transportation and Green Building. Recognising the importance of this environmental platform, the French Trade Commission, the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong & Macau and the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Architecture will hold a Sino-French Seminar on Housing & Building Energy-Efficiency at the Conference this year. Sharing the knowledge in these particulars areas of expertise will be business professionals from France and Hong Kong.

 News

At 490 meters, or 1,608 feet, the gleaming, nearly complete tower, which has been mushrooming its way into the record books over the past five years, is now the tallest building in Hong Kong, with views of the Chinese mainland and the islands off its coast.

The 118 stories of the International Commerce Center, or I.C.C., also give it the rank of the world’s fourth-tallest building, behind the almost completed Burj Dubai in Dubai, Taipei 101 in the Taiwanese capital and the Shanghai World Financial Center. Its roof will be about 70 meters higher than that of the Freedom Tower being built at the World Trade Center in New York, and about 180 meters above that of the so-called Shard in London, which will be the tallest building in Britain, once it is completed in 2012.

The I.C.C., which is due to be completed next year, further cements what has become a tradition in Asia: creating the world’s tallest buildings as a symbol of the region’s growing economic might.

In Hong Kong, with its constrained topography and position as one of Asia’s leading financial hubs, property prices and rents are as sky-high as many of the buildings.

Nevertheless, Sun Hung Kai Properties, the developer behind the I.C.C., says the megatower is almost completely leased. The developer locked in three high-profile anchor tenants, including Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, in 2007 and 2008 — long before the I.C.C. was anywhere near completion and while rents were still surging. The financial crisis meant that banks needed to find ways to save, and moving across Victoria Harbor from the central business district was attractive.

“There are only certain times in the economic cycle when you can fill buildings like these — tall buildings, where you need multistory tenants,” said Paul Katz, president of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associated, the design architecture firm for the I.C.C. Sun Hung Kai’s “timing was brilliant,” he said.

About 124,000 tons of steel were used in the tower’s construction — a weight equivalent to about 720 blue whales or nearly 450 Airbus 380s. And the amount of concrete used could fill 103 Olympic-size swimming pools. Fourteen soccer fields’ worth of glass cover its shimmering exterior, and the air conditioning ducts stretch a total of 19 kilometers, or nearly 12 miles.

Inside, 83 elevators will ferry the tens of thousands of people who will eventually work in the building. The lengths of the elevator shafts alone add up to more than 14 kilometers — the longest, a service lift, has a run of 470 meters.

Flanking the tower as it looks across Victoria Harbor: an array of buildings housing luxury residential apartments, an upmarket hotel and a huge marble shopping mall complete with an ice rink.

Office rents in the district known as Central — home of the main business district, which hugs Hong Kong Island’s northern flank — are among the highest in the world, comparable only with those in Tokyo and well ahead of even London and New York, according to statistics compiled by the commercial real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Since peaking about a year ago — before the worst of the global financial turmoil hit home — average office rentals in the city have fallen about 50 percent, said John Siu, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s office for Hong Kong and southern China. “But compared to other cities in Asia, it is still expensive,” he said.

Despite the crisis, which threw Hong Kong into recession for much of the past year, vacancy rates in Central are among the lowest in the region — 6.7 percent, with rents for A-grade offices averaging $11.31 per square foot per month, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s latest statistics, for June and July.

NYTimes.com

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK PolyU) is an urban endeavour by virtue of addition and growth over the last 40 years. The rich patchwork of various faculties, communities and facilities are strung together by a community of visually coherent yet different buildings. From a process of outward expansion, the HK PolyU is now looking inwards to develop itself by making creative use of its remaining void on the North side of the campus.

The Innovation Tower aims to use these voids to create an accessible urban space which will transform how the Hong Kong Poly University is perceived and the way it will be used. The building unashamedly aims to stimulate and project a vision of possibilities for its future, as well as reflect the history of the HK PolyU by encapsulating in its architecture the process of change.

Architecture

The proposed vision of the new Innovation Tower presents a unique opportunity to re-examine and address a creative, multidisciplinary environment. Our concept in its first instance, collects the variety of programmes of the school. Having undergone a strict process of examination of the multiple relationships amongst their unique identities they have been arranged in accordance to their ‘collateral flexibilities’. Priority lies in the drawing in of the campus staff, students and public into a welcoming new space that acts as both the building’s entrance and organiser for the existing complex.

The first architectural gesture is to raise the landscape of the existing football field and tennis grounds, so as to place the main pedestrian entrance of the new school building on a level open to it’s immediate context at podium level. The free ground below becomes accessible from the established main campus route (Yuk Choi Road) to proposed workshops, parking and access to future development on ‘Phase 8’. The new Innovation Tower on podium level is established as an open public foyer that channels deep into the building through a column-free, open showcase forum. The long integrated path from Suen Chi Sun Memorial Square guides the visitor to the main entrance and from here, a generous and welcoming space openly leads its visitors access to supporting public facilities (shop, cafeteria, museum) through a generous open exhibition ‘showcase’ spanning over two levels between podium and ground level.

The podium level is a route that ramps and stretches through towards the open ground with relocated recreational outdoor facilities. From the entry foyer, a long escalator penetrates deep upwards through four levels of openly glazed workspaces. The myriad of workspaces accommodated within the new school offer themselves as a variety of visual showcases.

The route through the building becomes a clear upward cascade of showcases and events allowing the student or visitor to visually covet and engage work and exhibits throughout its circulation passage. These routes aims to promote new opportunities of interaction between the diverse types of users through its spaces through every level.

Voids bring in natural daylight, fresh air and the sense of continuity of space. In this way, the programmes of the tower, which comprise of learning clusters and central facilities, are allowed to create coordinated repertoires and dialogue between respective volumes.

Other Information

• PROGRAM: Innovation Tower, School of Design Development
• CLIENT: Hong Kong Polytechnic University
• ARCHITECT: Design Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
• Project Director Woody K.T.Yao
• Project Leader Simon Yu
• Competition team : Hinki Kwong, Melodie Leung, Long Jiang, Zhenjiang Guo, Yang Jingwen, Miron Mutyaba, Pavlos Xanthopoulus, Margarita Yordanova Valova
• CONSULTANTS:
  • Local Architect: AGC Design Ltd AD+RG
  • Structural & Geotechnical: Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd
  • Building Services: Ove Arup & Partners Hong Kong Ltd
  • Landscape: Team 73 Hong Kong Ltd
  • Acoustic: Westwood Hong & Associates Ltd