La Maison Hermès Dosan Park | Rena Dumas

Our thinking – the genesis of the project « When the president of Hermès Korea first showed me the place he envisaged buying for the construction of the Maison Hermès in Seoul, I was immediately seduced by the charm of its environment, and by the proximity to the neighbouring Dosan Park. Sometime after the dream having become a reality, plunged us into thinking about the construction of a building, free standing on a terrain square in form, surrounded by four streets. Several hypothesis’ resulted, and very quickly we were convinced that the characteristics of this location were unique, intrinisically strong. It appeared obvious to us that the solution was to trace on this square ground a square plan, from which emerged a cube and after a cube stretching slightly upwards. Furthermore, following the example of the traditional Korean house, we looked for ways to give this cube courts and gardens, including one, which would open towards the park. » The building with its solids and its voids « This building serves several functions – a café, shop, offices, a museum, an exhibition space - and articulates its different spaces by means of an initial vertical hollowing out with the creation of a central patio, and two horizontal perforations with the opening of terraces, one fully exposed to the sky and looking out to the park, the other covered and turned towards the city. This play of solids and voids allows the natural light to penetrate by the interior of the building and gives its volumetric unity. It offers a promenade, which, by the bridges, the terraces and the patio, connects the different functions to each other. The Maison Dosan Park welcomes and communicates; in this way it corresponds to Hermès way of being. » The facade « The facade is a double skin glass structure, silkscreen printed in fine horizontal lines, golden copper on the outer face and white on the inner face. Shining, vibrating, it plays constantly with the light that it lets enter into the building in a joyful way. The double skin provides the interior living with privacy, whilst at the same leaving the view towards the outside free. It alludes to the characteristics of Hermès : intimacy and discretion. This facade is also linked to the traditional expression of chiaroscuro as found throughout Asia and on the shores of the Mediterranean. » The architects of the project The project was designed by Rena Dumas, in collaboration with Denis Montel architect and joint artistic director of the RDAI agency, and Nicolas Karmochkine, architect Assistants : Jean François Py, Dong-Ha Kwak Shop project architect : Thodoris Zoumboulakis Construction The Maison Hermès Dosan Park was realised with the close collaboration between Korean, Chinese and European contractors under the direction of the Korean general contractor SAMIL. This collaboration is particularly important for the facade works. The wall of the western facade is constructed of stone, which was shipped in rough cut form from Ladoix in Burgundy France and shaped and finished in China by the contractor GARTNER. The double skin glass facade, was produced in China and exported to Korea, ready to be mounted with all finished fittings. All the facades were hung by the Korean contractor ILJIN UNISCO The interior fit-out was carried out by the Korean contractor UNO, using in particular Molianos stone flooring from Portugal and European cherry wood for building the furniture. Materials Double skin facade Exterior skin : 15mm low iron tempered glass + gold silk screen printing, structure mirror polished stainless steel, on a 2m 20 x 2m 20 grid Interior skin : 6mm low iron heat-strengthened glass / 2mm pvb / 6mm low iron heat-strengthened glass low-E coated 6mm / + white screen printing, polished naturel anodised aluminium joinery, on a 1m 10 x 1m 10 grid Facade stone : Ladoix stone, staple fixed, hammered and saw-cut finished (France, Burgundy) Interior Partitioning : Topakustic Glazing elements : St Gobain Stadip silence 4/4/2 False ceiling: Knauff False flooring : Lindner Woodwork panels : Topakustic Sanitary fittings : Duravit Tap fittings : Vola Ironmongery : FSB + D line Lift : Otis Café parquetry floor finish : Piyncado Exhibition parquetry floor finish: Bauwerk Beech Shop carpet floor finish : Ruckstühl Shop stone floor finish : Moléanos stone (Portugal), with stainless steel ex-libris recessed in stone Office carpet floor finish : Bentzon Soft floor finish : Forbo Sarlino Linoleum Mosaic floor finish : Noro, Winckelmans mosac Sol Pierre extérieure : Ladoix stone, flame finished (Burgundy, France) Shop wall finishes : Marmorino (render finish) Shop furniture : European cherry wood, tinted and satin mat varnished, and Corian, all decorative metalwork in brushed nickeled brass. Exterior and interior show windows lined in fine beige pearl Ottoman Manuel Canovas fabric. Watches / jewellery show windows lined in red Bisson Brunel woollen cloth. Lighting : Light fittings, specially designed for Hermès in 1925, representing a freize wall the « Grecque », and coupled with glass moulded globes, provide the general shop lighting. Low voltage spotlights, recessed in the false ceiling draw attention to the diverse products. The show windows are lit with low voltage spotlights. All the shop furniture is equipped with fluorescent tubes on the underside of the shelving and low voltage spotlights in order to bring a shine to certain products. Office furniture, RDAI by Unifor Café seating, RDAI by Poltrona Frau Café pedastel table, RDAI by Crea diffusion Furniture, Artek, Classicon, Domeau Pérès, Vitra, Fritz Hansen Light fittings, Lighting accents, Erco, Equinoxe, Zumtobel-staff Leather upholstery for lift and sheathing of stair hand rail, Hermès Taurillon Blanc Fabric of wall curtain for Café, Lelièvre velour Tango Beige Areas Land area, 1.150 m2 Gross Floor Area, 7.745 m2 Useable Floor Area, 5.910 m2 Retail area, 900 m2 Madang Café, 220 m2 Promenade Museum, 300 m2 Exhibition area, 420 m2 Showroom and workshops, 360 m2 Head office, 840 m2 Team Client, Hermès Korea Ltd Client representative, Davis Langdon, Seah Korea Co Ltd Architect, RDAI Executive Architect, Tetra Architects Museum scenographer, Hilton McConnico Glazing product consultants, Guillaume Saalburg (Techniques Transparentes) Structural, plumbing and electrical engineers, Ingerop, Kunwon Ingineering Facade engineers, Arnauld de Bussièrre international, J&S Hanbaeck Lighting consultant, Philippe Almon Landscape consultant, Louis Benech Acoustic consultant, Delphi Acoustique & Ingénierie