This project was planned for the student town in the HongDae area in the city of Seoul, South Korea and is an urban style joint development that includes the construction of commercial enterprises, offices and event space. The client aimed to revitalise the town using this project as a catalyst of change, so requested us to design a building that had a strong impact and was full of expression, the finished design was achieved and selected from more than 20 designs.

In terms of the design itself, through trial and error, we were able to form an image of the town that is full of energy as well as being open and natural, we decided to adopt a translucent outer shell that participates in the bustle that surrounds it on the street. Eventually, we reached a form that has both a transparent look like a diamond and the brightness of a polyhedron so we are proud that we could successfully interface the design with the scale of the buildings around it. The second glass surface has been ceramic printed on with a yellow-orange coloured frit pattern and was fitted using the SSG construction method. The fritted glass was used for the outer skin and transparent glass was used for the entrance of the shops one step down, which emphasizes the contrast of the outer skin layers. The complicated polyhedron shape of the outer skin avoided set back from the diagonal road and footpath while expressing a multitude of light reflective images and transparency, at the same time, we standardized the glass shape and installation details with the cooperation of the local office in order to make the construction possible.