Cheongna, South Korea

Cheongna City Tower

TOWER DESIGN

Entry Plaza

Our approach was to develop an iconic tower form that is conceptually expressive of the confluence of regional energies which define the Cheongna area as Korea’s “Open window to the world”. Cheongna’s aspirations to create a global center for cultural and economic exchange in the center of Northeast Asia can be distilled into a symbolic form born of the emotion and spirit of the place. Conceptually, the landscape or horizontal ground plane is where these energies are individually peeled up and radically transformed into vertical elements to create the tower form. Not unlike the mountain landscape that surrounds Cheongna, horizontal forces in nature converge to create vertical movement and an eternal push skyward. The tower form is composed of four independent rectangular legs which emerge out of the landscape from the southwest, northwest, northeast and southeast corners of the site. Not unlike the organic twisted surface roots of the Banyan tree, each of the four tower legs dramatically slope up towards a central convergence point along a unique path and geometry to create a grouping of almost touching towers. The four rectangular tubes ultimately converge around a vertical void space then become vertical to form an asymmetrical implied cruciform plan. The northeast tower leg shifts out within the midlevel volume and pulls away from the central void as it rises to the top to create an extended space between the legs. Each of the four towers ascends to a unique height with the southeast tower alone extending from the ground up to the 449m height limit. The resulting sinuous form is defined by the fluid transformation of the 4 trussed tubes from landscape into a vertical tower structure which dissolves into the sky.

Plan

At three distinct levels within the 449m height the tower legs are connected by suspended glass volumes within which the tower legs become integrated into the occupied interior space. The resulting stacked cruciform plans contain the multi-level lobby/observation program spaces, related amenity functions and service/mechanical space in discreet multi-level towers. The first level of each volume contains all mechanical and service related spaces, fire exit transfers and refuge areas. Typically there are two levels immediately above the service containing all amenity program elements including food service/restaurant and entertainment, multi function rooms, gallery space etc. The top levels of each volume are the observation decks which include the double-decker elevator lobbies and a variety of related spaces. Primary circulation between floors within each volume is by escalator. The lower volume containing floors T101-T106 is located between +59m and +94m. This 6 story volume contains the first occupied spaces in the tower and is the primary vertical distribution point for the mid-rise and high-rise express elevators, the shuttle tube elevators from the underwater entry hall and the inclined elevators from the pedestrian ramp. The two amenity levels include a variety of restaurant spaces including a large outdoor covered terrace cut out of the connection volume overlooking the City Tower Plaza and the surrounding landscape. The mid-rise volume containing floors T201-T205 is located between +205m and +230m. This 5 story volume contains the mid-rise elevator lobbies, observation decks and the related amenity spaces. This is the first observation level in the tower and places the viewer the equivalent of 60 floors above the ground. This observation experience can be related to the Rockefeller Center Top of The Rock in New York’s midtown in that the elevation places the viewer among the adjacent high-rise buildings. The high-rise volume containing floors T301-T307 is located between +345m and +400m and is designed as a series of stacked vertical spaces interconnected by a circular central atrium. This penthouse multi-level volume contains the high-rise elevator lobbies, multi level observation decks and related amenity spaces. This is the highest group of observation levels in the tower and places the viewer the equivalent of 90 to 100 floors above the ground. The observation experience at this elevation is unique and offers distant views only possible in a select group of the tallest buildings in a handful of cities around the world. At the upper 2 observation levels, the central volume rises up with the single full-height tower leg and culminates with soaring glass roof enclosure inscribed with a circular oculus in-line with the central atrium and voids. The vertical stacking arrangement of observation spaces within the tower transforms the observation deck experience into one of visual discovery as viewers climb through the levels individually crafting their own ascent to the top. The observation spaces encourage a more intimate exploration of the structure and the unique spaces within the structure. This intimate spatial relationship to the structure itself is what characterizes the delight of occupying the structure itself rather than a more conventional space supported by a separate and concealed tower structure. This is an essential element in the magical experience one has visiting the Eiffel Tower and is intrinsic to the development of the design of City Tower.

View from North Lake

Observation Desk

By-pass Bridge

Elevation

Section

Sketch

Diagrams

Europaconcorsi Beta

Cheongna City Tower