CONCEPT

The key aim of the proposal is to balance the high-density development and the existing public park. ‘Park Canopy’ enhances the green space with its natural potential and reaches new human-scale intervention in the park. 

Eight major mountains that have shaped the city scape for centuries, are the cornerstone of the Seoul identity. Respectfully in this situation 'Park Canopy' chosen to position the existing mountain park as the icon of this development, maximizing the new intervention to the north side. This way the building becomes a background of the existing mountain, exposing life in the park as an everyday spectacle.

Together it proposes a diverse and contemporary theatrical environment and opens panoramic views to the wider urban surroundings.

STRUCTURE

The key design aspiration for the building structure design is to maximize clear floor to ceiling heights and to provide flexibility for under-slab building services distribution. These have been achieved by considering structural framing options that minimize the structural floor depth. Flexibility is provided by removing down-stand beams and having a flat soffit. This allows the building services engineer to distribute freely in both horizontal directions which is an important criteria for the theatre building. 

The current preference is for a composite steel framed building, which sits on top of the reinforced concrete substructure, partially covered by soil. The selected floor solution is Reinforced Concrete floors on permanent metal decking, designed compositely with asymmetric steel beams. The overall depth of this solution is much shallower than for a standard steel frame. In addition, steel frame construction is quick compared with other forms of construction. The building has several cantilevered sections of floor. These are located along the South face. The cantilevers will be supported using a combination of back-spans and bracing. The heavily loaded pant rooms have been positioned away from the cantilevered areas – North face.  

Structure below the ground floor (main lobby) is primarily made of in-situ Reinforced Concrete walls, slabs and columns. The column layout has been developed to maximize the space of the ‘black box’ and amount of car parking available.