Final Winning Design Revealed... Atrium Created Inside, Maximizing Energy Efficiency
Post-Corona Era, Immersive Studio Capable of Shooting 4K or Higher High-Resolution Videos
[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Namsan Creative Center, which had ceased operations due to aging, will be reborn as a Zero Energy Building (ZEB) in the first half of 2022. The Seoul Metropolitan Government held a design competition starting last month, and the joint entry "Inserting Void In Between" by Professor Gyeong-geol Guk of Ewha Womans University and Jeo Architects was selected as the final winning design.
On the 27th, Seoul announced that after ZEB remodeling, the Namsan Creative Center will be transformed into an advanced equipment-equipped "immersive video production creative studio (tentative name)." The "Namsan Creative Center ZEB Conversion Remodeling Project," the first of its kind attempted by Seoul, aims to replace the aging facilities and equipment of the Namsan Creative Center, which was used as a rehearsal space for performing artists, and improve energy efficiency to ZEB grade 5 or higher by applying eco-friendly design techniques such as passive design.
The Namsan Creative Center, with a total floor area of 1,830㎡ and two above-ground floors, will house a dedicated studio capable of producing high-definition (4K or higher) video, as well as post-production rooms and control rooms for video editing, along with auxiliary spaces. Seoul plans to provide dedicated spaces for artists who lack video production technology and face difficulties acquiring equipment, while enabling citizens to enjoy high-quality performing arts videos.
Earlier, Seoul conducted a design competition on April 9th targeting domestic and international architects to address the complex challenge of converting the aging cultural facility into a dedicated video production studio. As a result, the joint entry "Inserting Void In Between" by Professor Gyeong-geol Guk of Ewha Womans University and Jeo Architects was selected as the final winning design.
The winning design partially cuts into the arched roof to insert a new space (atrium), preserving the advantage of the existing building's high ceiling height while maximizing the energy efficiency of the aging structure to convert it into a zero-energy building. The south side of the building, which had a closed-off wall, will be opened to create terraces and balconies, bringing the nature of Namsan into the building's interior.
Kim Heon, chairman of the judging panel and representative of Architecture Firm Asylum, said, "It is rare to have a design competition that requires addressing numerous aspects such as architectural space, sculptural image, practicality, and economic feasibility in such detail. All the finalists were difficult to rank in terms of density and originality." He added, "Considering the characteristics of the ZEB remodeling project, the winning design proposed the most realistically feasible method and will become a landmark that allows many visitors to Namsan to engage more actively."
Seoul plans to complete the basic and detailed design by October with the winning designer and begin construction in November, aiming to finish the project by the first half of next year. Lee Dong-ryul, director of the Climate Change Response Division at Seoul City, the project’s supervising department, said, "The zero-energy remodeling project is the most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing buildings. We will gradually expand the project starting from the Namsan Creative Center and strive to spread zero-energy remodeling to the private market as well."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
