<p>The South Korean music scene, otherwise known as K-Pop, is currently making huge strides in the global music industry. Popular with fans from Asia to the Americas, South Korean bands are currently topping the charts and selling-out stadiums. With its fingers on the cultural pulse and a social-media-savvy fandom, K-pop is currently taking the world by storm. In 2017 YG Entertainment, the producers of K-Pop, invited UNStudio to design their brand new headquarter building in Seoul, which since completion has become a site of pilgrimage for fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their latest idols.</p><p>UNStudio’s design for the new headquarter building is inspired by YG Entertainment’s business and the music industry in general. The new building houses office spaces, meeting rooms and recording studios, all of which are strategically organised to take full advantage of the location and to provide YG Entertainment’s employees with the most uplifting and inspiring work environment possible. T he protective shell of the new HQ building manifests as a new ‘urban speaker’. It is designed to be more reminiscent of a product than a building; one in which every design feature has a performative function.</p><p>The new HQ is located on a site that borders two very different worlds. To one side, it abuts a low-density housing area, while on the other, it faces a dense network of highways and bridges and overlooks a large green park. This discrepant positioning informs the design, the building orientation and the internal organisation, while also serving to open up views towards the river from the interior workplaces</p> <p>The new YG Headquarters is situated directly next to the well-known existing YG Building, the interior of which celebrates a ‘black in black’ concept. The new HQ interior takes the opposite approach, introducing instead a brightly lit space with a range of white tones and geometric lines</p><p>The dual qualities of the surroundings are reflected in the interior organisation of the building through an interlocking sectional concept for the functions. This logic, combined with visual coherence in materials and geometry, creates a unique interior experience that is visually linked to the exterior street level, while the roof floods the central atrium space with daylight.</p><p>The seven office levels are oriented towards the view to the park, a placement that ensures daylight on all working floors. The meeting and collaboration spaces on the first 4 floors face an interior atrium, which serves as a collective space in the heart of the building. This area acts as a central stage for the lower level offices and the recording studios, as well as for the users, staff and visitors.</p><p>The interior facade of the atrium is punctuated by exposed capsule-like meeting rooms that can serve as either ‘working zones’ or ‘resting zones’. These capsules further enable visual interaction throughout the atrium and towards the office floors. On ground level, the atrium space hosts a hidden garden and functions as a ‘living room’ to welcome visitors.</p><p>Wayfinding is integrated into the interior design by way of a network of geometrical lines that guide people to the different zones in the building, easing the people flows and creating a spatial hierarchy.</p>
<p>The South Korean music scene, otherwise known as K-Pop, is currently making huge strides in the global music industry. Popular with fans from Asia to the Americas, South Korean bands are currently topping the charts and selling-out stadiums. With its fingers on the cultural pulse and a social-media-savvy fandom, K-pop is currently taking the world by storm. In 2017 YG Entertainment, the producers of K-Pop, invited UNStudio to design their brand new headquarter building in Seoul, which since completion has become a site of pilgrimage for fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their latest idols.</p><p>UNStudio’s design for the new headquarter building is inspired by YG Entertainment’s business and the music industry in general. The new building houses office spaces, meeting rooms and recording studios, all of which are strategically organised to take full advantage of the location and to provide YG Entertainment’s employees with the most uplifting and inspiring work environment possible. T he protective shell of the new HQ building manifests as a new ‘urban speaker’. It is designed to be more reminiscent of a product than a building; one in which every design feature has a performative function.</p><p>The new HQ is located on a site that borders two very different worlds. To one side, it abuts a low-density housing area, while on the other, it faces a dense network of highways and bridges and overlooks a large green park. This discrepant positioning informs the design, the building orientation and the internal organisation, while also serving to open up views towards the river from the interior workplaces</p> <p>The new YG Headquarters is situated directly next to the well-known existing YG Building, the interior of which celebrates a ‘black in black’ concept. The new HQ interior takes the opposite approach, introducing instead a brightly lit space with a range of white tones and geometric lines</p><p>The dual qualities of the surroundings are reflected in the interior organisation of the building through an interlocking sectional concept for the functions. This logic, combined with visual coherence in materials and geometry, creates a unique interior experience that is visually linked to the exterior street level, while the roof floods the central atrium space with daylight.</p><p>The seven office levels are oriented towards the view to the park, a placement that ensures daylight on all working floors. The meeting and collaboration spaces on the first 4 floors face an interior atrium, which serves as a collective space in the heart of the building. This area acts as a central stage for the lower level offices and the recording studios, as well as for the users, staff and visitors.</p><p>The interior facade of the atrium is punctuated by exposed capsule-like meeting rooms that can serve as either ‘working zones’ or ‘resting zones’. These capsules further enable visual interaction throughout the atrium and towards the office floors. On ground level, the atrium space hosts a hidden garden and functions as a ‘living room’ to welcome visitors.</p><p>Wayfinding is integrated into the interior design by way of a network of geometrical lines that guide people to the different zones in the building, easing the people flows and creating a spatial hierarchy.</p>
