INFORMATION
location:
Seoul, Korea
client:
Seoul Metropolitan
Government
year:
status:
competition entry
program:
mixed use
total area:
20.500m2
competition team:
Marina Kounavi
Irgen Salianji
Karolina Szóstkiewicz
Stavria Psomiadi
Antony
Laurijsen
DESCRIPTION
THE URBAN WOMB-
A MIX-USE URBAN CONDENSER FOR THE PRODUCTION OF AN ALTER-URBANITY
Seoul
Urban Womb is designed as an organic urban womb that intensifies spatially and
programmatically the urbanity of the site and the wider area. The building
consists of a compact rectangular volume that is interrupted by a sequence of voids to
create a dynamic network of activities inside the building. The main void of
the project is defined by the big pixelated plinth and resembles an over-scaled
urban living room or lecture theatre for the community of Women and Families of
Seoul to exist together in a common three-dimensional network and perform their
daily activities within an open platform.
The project develops a strong direct urban
intervention by connecting the train station of the area with the Women Plaza
through the new building of the facility. This programmatic carpet of
connection breaks the rectangular volume of the project and creates a large
urban void that can host events and activities. A large 5-floors-high urban
door opens to enhance the continuity and welcome the fusion between public and
private, inside and outside, as well as transition from the urban to the
domestic. As a result, rather that breaking the program into several smaller
volumes, the proposal condenses all of it into a single orthogonal envelope,
suggesting efficiency and unity as the future of sustainability both in
environmental and social terms.
