The South Korean music scene, otherwise known as K-Pop, is currently making huge strides in the global music industry. Popular with fans from Asia to the Americas, South Korean bands are currently topping the charts and selling-out stadiums.
In 2017 YG Entertainment, the producers of K-Pop, invited UNStudio to design their brand new YG Headquarters building in Seoul, which since completion has become a site of pilgrimage for fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their latest idols.
© Rohspace
UNStudio’s design for the new headquarter building is inspired by YG Entertainment’s business and the music industry in general. The new building houses office spaces, meeting rooms and recording studios, all of which are strategically organised to take full advantage of the location and to provide YG Entertainment’s employees with the most uplifting and inspiring work environment possible.
© Rohspace
The new YG Headquarters is situated directly next to the well-known existing YG Building, the interior of which celebrates a ‘black in black’ concept. The new HQ interior takes the opposite approach, introducing instead a brightly lit space with a range of white tones and geometric lines.
The dual qualities of the surroundings are reflected in the interior organisation of the building through an interlocking sectional concept for the functions. This logic, combined with visual coherence in materials and geometry, creates a unique interior experience that is visually linked to the exterior street level, while the roof floods the central atrium space with daylight.
© Rohspace
The seven office levels are oriented towards the view to the park, a placement that ensures daylight on all working floors. The meeting and collaboration spaces on the first 4 floors face an interior atrium, which serves as a collective space in the heart of the building. This area acts as a central stage for the lower level offices and the recording studios, as well as for the users, staff and visitors.
© Rohspace
The interior facade of the atrium is punctuated by exposed capsule-like meeting rooms that can serve as either ‘working zones’ or ‘resting zones’. These capsules further enable visual interaction throughout the atrium and towards the office floors. On ground level, the atrium space hosts a hidden garden and functions as a ‘living room’ to welcome visitors.
Wayfinding is integrated into the interior design by way of a network of geometrical lines that guide people to the different zones in the building, easing the people flows and creating a spatial hierarchy.
© Rohspace
The protective shell of the new HQ building manifests as a new ‘urban speaker’. It is designed to be more reminiscent of a product than a building; one in which every design feature has a performative function.
The existing YG Building next to the new HQ is characterised by its exposed concrete exterior. Corresponding with the overall massing of the existing building, the new YG HQ aligns in height, floors and functionality with its older brother, while creating a new impulse for this location and an organisation that is enabled by its unique positioning between city and park. The massing of the new YG Headquarter building further reflects this duality through interlocking the protective shell-like exterior facade with the more human-scale materiality of the interior.
© Rohspace
Clearly defined zones within the protective outer shell relate to the urban placement of the building. These zones are defined from the inside, based on their particular use and interaction with the outside environment.
The integration of planting functions as an extension of the nearby park, while also forming a distinct contrast with the metallic exterior of the building. On ground level the green extends towards the inside of the building.
© Rohspace
During the day, the ‘urban speaker’ is designed to provide the best possible working environment for its employees from the inside out, whilst at night this workplace begins to glow and become an identifiable part of the city’s skyline. In the evenings the illumination concept of the various interior zones employs the facade lines and perforated hues to reveal a glimpse of various layers within the building, accentuating the quality of performance inherent to the entertainment and music industry.
**
© Rohspace
Press Release
7
comment