GANGSEO-GU GOVERNMENT OFFICE COMPLEX

New York based H Architecture in collaboration with Haeahn Architecture in South Korea, recently won the international competition for the new Gangseo-Gu Government Office Complex in Seoul, South Korea. The project aims to establish a new typology of government complex including city office, city council and public health center at new location in Magok district where is an industrial development area in Gangseo-Gu.

From the macro view of the city, the project site is located at the edge between old town and new development town and also as a center of transportation and infrastructure of Gangseo-Gu. When it comes to the micro view of the site, the site is approximately 20,256 m² and is located adjacent to the linear park connecting from the Northern city garden park to the Southern natural mountain park. The site block includes not only the government office complex but also other public buildings, tax authorities, cultural center and the Immigration office, resulting in the project site described as a green government complex.

It is envisioned that the new complex is to coalesce with the soft landscape and village type of office complex to promote a sense of public space and yet coincide with its identity as a respectful figure as opposed to it being a monumental figure as a traditional building type of government office buildings in South Korea. Square shapes of building footprint express a multi-faced complex towards the South for global public, the North for city public, the West for residents and the East for industrials. Public cultural programs including a library, a citizen learning center and an auditorium on Ground level and under are easily accessible by public, accommodating various levels of the city fabric. Each public program has a direct connection to the outside of building creating a close relationship between indoor functional program and outdoor landscape program. The atrium inside the building functions as a sustainable green machine by optimizing natural ventilation and natural daylight inlet to the North office and ensuring active and passive design strategies. City office at the mid-level of Atrium works as a smart office, 2-bay of work space and 1-bay of support space adjacent to the atrium as a filter between office and public space. The diverse and versatile outdoor spaces are variously inserted into the civic spaces, government buildings, and councils, and the overlapping spaces loosen the boundaries of each space through three-dimensional expansion, and reinforce the linkage between functions. The interconnected indoor and outdoor civic spaces accommodate various type of activities required by different functions. In addition, the active internal and external connections create a new type of government office and provides a new garden complex in Gangseo-Gu.