OFFICE 243

Part of a sweeping programme for regenerating northeast Seoul, an area with a population of 3.2 million, the competition brief for a ‘Generation-Convergence Start-up Centre’ called for a public facility that would seed both an industrial ecosystem – in other words, jobs – and culture. In the context of a vast urban redevelopment comprising mainly housing, the building was to be an urban catalyst and a microcosm of civic life. One of a collection of large urban blocks on the site, it was intended to foster four distinct enterprises: a start-up centre, a community support centre, an educational campus, and a residence for young entrepreneurs and artists. The design proposes four slender vertical slabs – one for each of these enterprises – that together form the sides of a single urban block. All the circulation is organised along the diagonal corners of the block, for maximum flexibility of the open plans. Together, the four slabs enclose a central garden, which is covered with a mechanical system of openable and inflatable roof elements to maintain a temperate atmosphere. A park and a garden, an urban block and a complex of buildings, living and working space – all are collapsed here into a single project.