D.LIM Architects has designed the exterior façade and interior remodeling for the H&M special store in Seoul. The building is located in Hongdae area, a famous hot place of the northern side of Seoul. The design is based on the H&M's global standard however, D.LIM Architects has input its own imagination on the facade with wire loped curtain walls. The 3mm wire ropes are vertically hung over 200mm off the curtain wall.
The H&M stores are almost identical anywhere in the world based on their manuals. But, D.LIM has specially chosen the wire ropes for the H&M Hongdae in order to express the ‘White’ and 'Crisp' brand image. The 3mm wire roped curtainwall on the façade also makes the positive cityscape on the Korean typical commercial street.
The original red-brick façade was torn down to fit with H&M standards and then the building was dressed with new two layered cladding, clear glass and wire ropes. The new layers produce different appearance of the building depending on its viewpoints. When you see the buildings across the road, the wire ropes are almost disappeared in your sight and the poster displays are shown clearly.
When you see it on a roadside, you can see a crisp wall which is made by a number of the overlapped wire ropes. The closer you are to the building, the clearer the wire ropes are seen. The wire-roped curtainwall also shows different silhouettes according to the solar position. Depending on viewpoint, distance, and time, the visual and tactile senses of the wall are changed.
