Text from UNStudio:
Situated on major access roads at the tip of the commercial zone within the new master plan, the Galleria Cheonan Department Store marks the entrance to a new development area and functions as an attractor and destination for a wide variety of users. In the design for the building spatial devices are employed to create a propelling effect and stimulate customers to prolong their stay on site. The design approach combines an interior spatial organization with an animated façade in order to achieve this aim.
The building organisation employs a propeller principle. Four stacked programme zones, each thematically combining three storeys and containing public plateaus, are linked to the central void. The concept of the propeller is a fluent upstream flow of people through the building, from the ground floor atrium to the roof terrace. The propeller wings simultaneously stream visitors outwards to the plateaus on the various levels. Along with the central atrium, the plateaus provide light and views both within the central space and to the exterior. As the plateaus are positioned in a rotational manner in space, they enable the central space to encompass way finding, vertical circulation, orientation and act as main attractor of the department store.
Essential to the design is the transition between the interior organisation and the exterior envelope. The massing of the building is an expression of the flow within, with the stacking the four different sections of the building reflected in the building envelope. On the facades a gradual transition from exterior surface to the interior plateaus accentuates the internal organisation, whilst providing these spaces with a high quality environment.
The facade is double layered. Both the outer glass shell and the inner skin comprise of a linear pattern created by the vertical mullions. The layering of the two planes generates three-dimensional depth by playing tricks on the human eye. This radiant effect strengthens the propeller idea on the outside of the building. In addition the vertical lines on the façade provide continuity of the floors and walls of the plateaus with the exterior of the building. During the day the building has a monochrome reflective appearance, whilst at night soft colours are used to generate waves of coloured light across the facade, with the potential for low resolution media walls fluidly integrated towards the corners.
Galleria Cheonan, Cheonan, Korea, 2008-2010
Client: Hanwha Galleria
Location: Cheonan, Korea
Building surface: 66,700m2
Building volume: 395,600m2 above ground / 297.200m2 underground
Building site: 11,235m2
Programme: Department Store with multifunctional facilities.
Timing: March 2008 – December 2010Credits
Architecture: Concept design to execution:
UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber with Ger Gijzen, Marc Herschel and Marianthi Tatari, Sander Versluis, Albert Gnodde, Jorg Lonkwitz, Tom Minderhoud, Jae Young Lee, Junseung Woo, Constantin Boincean, Yu-chen LinInterior: Concept design and Schematic design:
UNStudio: Ben van Berkel, Astrid Piber with Ger Gijzen, Cristina Bolis and Veronica Baraldi, JaeYoung Lee, Felix Lohrmann, Kirsten Hollmann, Albert Gnodde, Martijn Prins, Joerg Lonkwitz, Malaica CimentiAdvisors:
Executive architects: GANSAM, Seoul, Korea
Light Designer: AG Licht, Bonn, Germany
Way-finding Designer: Geerdes Ontwerpen, Delft, NetherlandsRenderings: UNStudio, Amsterdam and rendertaxi, Aachen
