GWELL: Social Units
Materials provided by JDS /Julien De Sm edt Architects Seoul, South Korea, is booming with new architecture, each proposed tower one-upping the one that was announced before it. Another building proposal, from JDS Architects, however, isn’t of the flashy skyscraper breed. Instead, the architects have come up with a new concept for uniting work and living spaces in a cascading design. JDS has been commissioned to design a hybrid office and hotel, the Officetel Building, for the new development area of Gangnam-gu District in Seoul. The interesting mixed program has resulted in a textured facade that responds to contextual issues such as sight lines and expose to natural light.
“Officetel” is a term invented and widely used in South Korea. First officetel was built in Seoul in 1985, and since then, the demand for these premises is currently growing. This multifunctional building combines residential and commercial spaces, what is very convenient for employees who rent offices in it and having the opportunity to live and work in the same building, reducing the time to travel around the city. At the same time, permanent stay at one place could be rather monotonous, so the office space in buildings are usually leased by medium or small companies, and because of among the tenants are many people of different professions, including lawyers, accountants, artists, and teachers.
Apartments in them - are quite small studios, where within a single space combined living room, bedroom and kitchen. In addition, officetel are mainly build close to the shopping centers and sports complexes to variegate habitat making it the most diverse. Today hybrid buildings occupy a significant share of the real estate market in Seoul. The project, dubbed Gwell by the architects, is built in Seoul’s burgeoning Gangnam Bogeumjari District. It is one of three districts in southern Seoul, where the government provides benefits in purchasing of housing, to generate sales and revive the market, which for several years has been in crisis. Economy class housing built with government support, in Korea called bogeumjari. Therefore, the name of the fast growing area often sounds like Gangnam Gangnam Bogeumjari.
Full version you can download here
Materials provided by JDS /Julien De Smedt Architects