Sun Tower
We were first able to experiment dramatically with a second skin, where we could separate the formal demands of the surface from the pragmatic requirements of the body, with the Sun Tower in Seoul, South Korea. The rigid constraints of a very constricted site, a generic program, and a requirement to maximize the zoning envelope posed a challenge to create a form liberated from the direct impact of these conditions. The fact that two property owners were in dispute provided the departure point, a duality expressed by severing the building vertically. Inspired by the forms and materials distinct to Korean origami and by the garment design of our client, this exterior “fabric” produces optical effects that constantly shift with the play of sun across it. At the peak of day it is a reflective place; at night, illuminated from the interior, it acts as an oversized urban billboard and shadow play. At once brise-soleil, enclosure, and lyrical abstraction, the surface perpetually transforms, oscillating between translucency and opacity, until the building itself appears dematerialized.
