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YONGSAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DISTRICT “PROJECT R6”
Seoul, Korea

KEY AWARDS Architect, Progressive Architecture Award, 2016; Chicago Athenaeum, American Architecture Award, 2014
CLIENT Dreamhub Project Financing Vehicle Co., Ltd.
PROGRAM 47,800 m² (515,000 sf) of luxury, micro-unit housing for short-term residents, 27,000 m² (291,000 sf) of retail, and 929 parking stalls
AREA 115,500 m² (1,240,000 sf)
COST Confidential
STATUS Commenced 2011; completed Design Development 2012; canceled 2015
DESIGN ARCHITECT REX
PERSONNEL Tiago Barros, Adam Chizmar, Danny Duong, Luis Gil, Gabriel Jewell-Vitale, Seok Hun Kim, Armen Menendian, Romea Muryń, Roberto Otero (PL), Se Yoon Park, Joshua Ramus, Lena Reeh Rasmussen, Yuan Tiauriman
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT Mooyoung
CONSULTANTS Barker Mohandas, Buro Happold, Front, Level Acoustics, Magnusson Klemencic, SCAPE, Shen Milsom Wilke, Tillotson

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03-20

YONGSAN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DISTRICT “PROJECT R6”
Seoul, Korea

KEY AWARDS Chicago Athenaeum, American Architecture Award, 2104
CLIENT Dreamhub Project Financing Vehicle Co., Ltd.
PROGRAM 47,800 m² (514,500 sf) of luxury housing for short-term residents, 27,000 m² (290,600 sf) of retail, and 929 parking stalls
AREA 115,500 m² (1,240,000 sf)
CONSTRUCTION BUDGET Confidential
STATUS Commenced 2011; completed Schematic Design 2012; on hold
DESIGN ARCHITECT REX
PERSONNEL Tiago Barros, Adam Chizmar, Danny Duong, Luis Gil, Gabriel Jewell-Vitale, Seok Hun Kim, Armen Menendian, Romea Muryń, Roberto Otero, Se Yoon Park, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Lena Reeh Rasmussen, Yuan Tiauriman
EXECUTIVE ARCHITECT Mooyoung
CONSULTANTS Barker Mohandas, Buro Happold, Front, Level Acoustics, Magnusson Klemencic, Scape, Shen Milsom Wilke, Tillotson Design

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YIBD “Project R6” is an urban boutique residence for business people on short-term assignments, young urban professionals, and foreign residents. Due to the transience of its target users and the short durations during which R6 is home, the unit sizes are small, 40 m² in majority, and some 50 m² and 60 m².

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To meet the trends of its users and compensate for its small unit size, R6 must engender a strong sense of community and its residences must be highly attractive, providing generous views, daylight, and cross-ventilation. Maximizing daylight and cross-ventilation are also paramount to providing a highly sustainable residence.

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In a standard housing tower, 40 m² to 60 m² units would create poorly dimensioned and oppressive residences, offering constrained views, little daylight, and poor ventilation, and community would be limited to activities at the tower’s base.

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By pulling blocks of the typical housing tower in opposing directions, the small units maintain their size, but are stretched…

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…into favorable proportions that provide views and daylight from both sides, excellent cross-ventilation, and…

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…a strong sense of community through the creation of a central courtyard, roof terraces, and conversation/reading/play pods.

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The stretched blocks are strategically positioned to guarantee unobstructed daylight into all units, and…

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…to create adequate continuity of the building’s primary structure: a concrete-encased steel mega-brace that encircles the courtyard.

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The mega-brace supports a shelf-like matrix of walls and floor slabs that define each unit.

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Into each shelf is inserted a wooden shell containing a bathroom on one side and a kitchen on the other.

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A movable wall—using standard compact shelving technology—shifts within the unit to define a bedroom (adjacent to the bathroom) or a living room (adjacent to the kitchen).

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The wall includes a bed, nightstands, couch, television mount, task lights, and storage.

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A high-performance façade—composed of frameless, triple-glazed IGUs with two surfaces of low-E coatings—emphasizes the remarkable exterior views, while interior black-out and shade roller blinds control sunlight and glare.

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Movable wall in living room position, looking out to Seoul

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The floor to ceiling interior façade—also composed of frameless IGUs and equipped with black-out and shade roller blinds—provides spatial relief and a sense of community, while maintaing privacy.

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Movable wall in living room position, looking into courtyard

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Typical 40 m² unit, movable wall in bedroom and living room positions

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Typical residential ‘horseshoe plan’

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The resulting architecture provides views and daylight from both sides, and excellent cross-ventilation.

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Community and spatial relief are further generated by conversation / reading / play pods extending into the courtyard. The pods playfully assume the varying widths of the walls behind such that no views are blocked and privacy in the units is maintained.

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View of courtyard

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Block R6 is a narrow parcel bounded by the planned Mountain Park—including Children’s Interactive Spray Park, Rail Road Museum, Outdoor Amphitheater, and Yongsan Station Esplanade—and the central park of the planned development Zone B3, adjacent to Hangang-ro. By placing the building to the south of Block R6, all units command great views and the building forms a gateway to YIBD from Hangang-ro.

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Aerial from Hangang-ro

Image credits: 1, 2, 3, 26: Luxigon

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