Dongdaemun Design Plaza Technological Analysis - Research Paper Example

ANALYSIS OF DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA (DDP) DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza) located in South Korea in the heart of Dongdaemun business district is the first building to be designed in South Korea using Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology. This made it possible for the DDP design to remain in harmony with the Seoul metropolitan government, Seoul design foundation and the Zaha Hadid Architects, as well as the clients, throught the construction process. The 448 million dollar project consists of show rooms, conference facilities, fashion design centers, and shops. The building is one of the most technologically advanced and innovative buildings in South Korea. Modeled as a modern cultural hub, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) revolves around old and ancient city walls which facilitate a new type of interaction between the new and the old while creating a civic space in the process for the city. The cultural multipurpose complex in Seoul South Korea was opened officially in March 2014. Samsung C&T built it whereas Zaha Hadid Architects designed it for its client, the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) is the biggest irregular three dimensional and irregular shaped building in the world.1 Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) ‘s metonymic landscape design emerged as the international competition winner under the design category back in August 2007 and the project has come to fruition. Construction work was completed in November 2013 having commenced in April 2009. The 931,874 sq ft (86, 574 sq m) multicultural complex is composed of educational facilities, a museum ,library and a sky lounge. Moreover, it has a retail space of 322,917sq ft (30,000 sq m) and a 322, 917sq ft (30, 000 sq m) park.2 The building’s theme revolves around a traditional Korean garden design style that interweaves the culture of South Korea into the complex’s fibre. “Within the urban environment of Dongdaemun is a new park. It will act as a refugee haven for the people of Dongdaemun in addition to it being a place for relaxation,” implied ZHA. The South Korea government hopes that the new flashy complex and its nearby public park will attract a lot of its citizens much like South Korea’s first or initial sports stadium which was originally located on the DPP site. The construction and completion of the project established a cultural and design hub in the country’s capital. The project hit several snags during its construction phase since it commenced in 2007. It was initially planned by the former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-Hoon, and it faced indefinite delay when the current major took office. Additionally, the project underwent major design alterations and changes after ancient artifacts were found to be under the building’s construction site. The futuristic and grandiose design which is a first in the South Korean cityscape has elicited a lot of debate within the architecture community.3 A lot of architects claim that the design does not even reflect the charms or history of Dongdaemun. Despite the criticism from the architecture community, the building complex has set a good precedent as a modern innovative building utilizing state of the art digital technology. During an email interview with the Korea Herald, Zaha Hadid said that, “Its construction and design sets a lot of new innovation standards. The DDP is Korea’s first project to use three-dimensional digital construction administration services that ensure design and construction quality, including 3-D Building Information Modeling for engineering coordination and construction management. It is also the first project in Korea to use an adjustable 3-D molding process for the metal cladding panels and concrete formwork.” Construction and design details of Dongdaemun Design Plaza The complex plaza stands on the site of Dongdaemun stadium. The stadium was destroyed to pave way and space for the DPP. The site area was measured to be 62, 692 m2, with the total building floor area measuring 86,574m2.DPP’ s length is two hundred and eighty meters, a width of one hundred and eighty eight meters and thirty four meters representing its height. It features three basement floors which incorporate a parking space which is underground with a capacity of holding up to 300 cars or vehicles.4 Above the ground, DPP features four levels. To minimize the utilization of columns, the building was built with space frame technologies and mega truss. The architectural marvel features vertical and horizontal surfaces and lines, including obtuse and acute angles and not right angles and straight lines. During the construction phase, three dimensional design methods and BIM (Building information modeling) styles were employed to create more obvious and elaborate curves which are different from the 2 D methods of design. Forty five thousand aluminium panels make up the exterior of the DPP. These panels are made up of 31000 curved panels and 41000 flat panels. Aluminium, stone, concrete and steel were used for constructing the building’s exterior. On the other hand, the interior construction of the building made use of various materials. These include reinforce gypsum, glass fibre, solid acrylic panel, acoustic gypsum, polished stone and stainless steel. The Joseon dynasty military training site which was found at the construction site was incorporated as part of the DPP without losing the original design plan. The free flowing design curves of the structure’s exterior with 45000 panels don’t divide at any angle. Inside the structure, there are no pillars to obstruct or hinder the view from any area in the exhibition halls. The structure’s walls and ceilings are tilted and curved, hence adding strength and dynamism to the empty white space. Moreover, the DPP building has some roof top gardens. Dongdaemun design Plaza facilities According to Hadid, The DDP is an important civic and cultural building that engages with the city and gives people a place to connect ― creating a public park and plaza that people can use as their own and allows the city to flow. Such public spaces are a vital component of a rich urban life and cityscape; they unite the city and tie the urban fabric together.5 The structure measuring 85,000m2 consists of halls, which are five in number. It is where exhibitions, conventions and major events of design will take place. Seoul fashion week is one of the highlight events planned to start in March, in conjunction with a rare show case of some of the most expensive and highly prized Korean traditional artwork which are possessed by Gansong Art Museum. The Gansong Art museum has never let their precious treasure out for exhibition purposes from its location in Seongbuk dong which is mostly a quiet neighborhood. The popularity of the museum is legendary. People wait in lines just to get a view of the prized and precious works composed of Korean traditional art. Jeon sung woo who is the chairman of the museum said that “The exhibition will offer a chance to view and appreciate the essence of the Korean traditional art. The exhibition at DDP will be unlike no other as they will reflect our attempt to work with different fields.” DPP will open design shops round the clock in line with the Dongdaemun working cycle, where the fashion industry wholesalers work 24 hours a day. Vendors have been included in the design of the DPP. Six Korean firms in the architecture field are building shops for them. As such, this will extend DPP’s energy to a wider area. Therefore, the building will function and work as a real landmark of the city. This design will make the DPP to be a crucial connection between South Korea’s historic artifacts, emerging culture and contemporary. The multipurpose complex consists of five facilities which are different. These facilities include the learning center, art hall, the design market, the Dongdaemun culture and history park, and the design lab. A total of 80 national treasures and 15 unique spaces are all featured within the DPP’s five facilities. The art hall an area of 4953m2. It features art hall 1 which accommodates 1500 people and art hall 2 which accommodates 1000 seats, while the international conference hall has 200 seats. The learning center is composed of various spaces. these include the design exhibition hall, design museum, museum café, and design pathway. In total, it covers an area of 7928m2. The design lab which covers two whole floors with an area of about 8,206m2, integrates both design labs one and two together, the academy hall and the designer’s lounge. The Dongdaemun culture and design park covers a total area of 4, 110m2. It possesses an eco-friendly design which features the stadium memorial hall, the design gallery, Dongdaemun history hall in addition to other spaces. The design market of the plaza covering 8000m2 of floor area contains a number of public convenience spaces, retail space utilizing the shop concept and cultural content. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza Park covers an area of 3800m2. The park redefines the traditional Korean concepts of garden design further with ample space. Criticism The building was completed amid continued debate as to whether the DPP is an architectural marvel or an urban pimple. Architects have criticized the design comparing it to a gigantic metal skull in the middle of the city’s oldest business district, while accusing Hadid of disregarding the historical fabric of the city. While the urban landscape of Seoul went through various major adjustments over the last 20 years, the lack of visual coherence and cohesion between the designs of architects has remained constant and unchanged. Hadid’s detractors and critics have a common believe that the DPP is one of the latest additions to the incoherent list. Dongdaemun Design Plaza Sustainability features The DPP has an energy efficient system. It is equipped with an energy efficient and eco-friendly geothermal system which is installed 150 meters deep into the ground. Throught the year, the facility on average has a 12 degrees Celsius temperature. Also, it is fitted with pipes for cooling and heating the different many areas of the DPP. In total, the cooling and heating pipes are 88. Contractors involved in the construction of the DPP Samoo Architects & Engineers was the project’s local architect. The firefighting design (MEPF), acoustic, plumbing, electrical, mechanical and structural engineering were provided by Arup. Samoo Mechanical Consulting (SMC) and Postech was a local consultant in relation to the project’s mechanical works, while Samoo TEC was the local telecom and electrical consultant, and Korean Fire protection was the local fire consultant. Other local contractors were involved in the project. These are OSD for acoustics, RMS Technologies for vibration and noise while Huel Lighting design was for lighting. Group F5 was an international consultant for the facade, while Mac M&C was the local consultant. Gross Max acted as the international landscaping consultant, while Dong Sim Won acted as the project’s local consultant. The panelisation and surface analysis works were done by Evolute. The civil works were carried out by Saegil engineering& consulting. Davis Langdon & Everest undertook the project’s quality survey works. Gehry Technologies was tasked with providing the digital project 3D modeling tool. This was for the BIM process. The planning permission activities were undertaken by Sewon P& D. Lastly, the environmental impact assessment duties were undertaken by Soosung Engineering. Complete Analysis and overview of the DPP The DPP building features a nicely shaped façade which is made up of 45000 aluminum panels of different curvatures and sizes. This was achieved throught the use of advanced 3D digital construction services. Consequently, this made DPP the first public structure to use this technology. Described by most architects as an illustration of perforation and pixilation symbols, the backlit is dotted with little perforations that enable the building to change to an animated light show at night from a solid entity during the day.6 The design integrates the plaza and park into one hence diminishing the boundary that exists between nature and architecture. Voids which puncture the park’s surface allow light to penetrate the building during the day in addition to offering a view of the spaces below. To link the city, park and plaza together, historical elements form the basis of DPP’s composition. Most of the cultural artifacts were discovered at the site during the construction of the project and specifically during the excavation period which preceded the construction of Dongdaemun Design Plaza. The DPP’s design exemplifies the result of how the programmatic requirements, innovative engineering and the local culture can fuse together letting the landscape, city and architecture to combine in both spatial experience and form thereby creating a new civic space. The 30,000 m2park interprets the Korean traditional garden design concepts of layering horizontally, and blurring the relation between the exterior and interior with no specific feature being dominant over the others. This approach is informed further by the local paintings that illustrate the grand visions of the dynamic aspects of nature. The use of 3D digital construction technology has enabled the people building DPP to easily manage and control the building’s construction with greater precision and accuracy than most or all conventional processes. Additionally, this improves the efficiency of the team building the project. BIBLIOGRAPHY Hadid, Zaha, 자하, and 하디드. "Dongdaemoon Design Plaza & Park, an Urban Oasis." Hwang, Jin-Tae. "Territorialized urban mega-projects beyond global convergence: The case of Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park Project, Seoul." Cities (2014). Kwon, Ohyoon, Ghang Lee, Seonwoo Kim, Yunah Sin, Jeashik Hwang, and Kabsu Chae. "INTEROPERABILITY ISSUES IN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIONS OF IRREGULARLY SHAPED BUILDINGS: THE CASE OF DONGDAEMUN DESIGN PLAZA AND PARK." (2008). Lee, Ghang, and Seonwoo Kim. "Case Study of Mass Customization of Double-Curved Metal Façade Panels Using a New Hybrid Sheet Metal Processing Technique." Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 138, no. 11 (2012): 1322-1330. Lee, Ryan. "Design Politics: Consumerization of Post-Industrial South Korea." PhD diss., 2013. Young, Yu Eun. "City branding and urban tourism: a case study of Seoul and Taipei." In Conference of the International Forum on Urbanism. International Forum on Urbanism. Read More