Tag Archives: south korea

Uniquely Shaped Concrete Dwellings Connected Via A Concrete Ring Showcase Community Living In South Korea

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Seoul-based studio AOA architects designed ‘Hoji Gangneung’ – a series of distinctive and unique-looking concrete dwellings that are connected via a raised and circular path. Nestled in the South Korean countryside, in Gangwon-do, the Hoji Gangneung is made up of a family house for the owner, as well as three guesthouses, and a communal building. The property highlights how innovatively community living can be elevated and planned.

Designer: AOA Architects

One of the four homes is called the Round House, and it has quite an interesting semi-circular end. Another one of the houses has an octagonal shape and a central courtyard. The other two homes and the communal building feature rectangular floor plans, and have different roof shapes. The communal building is equipped with a mono-pitch roof, and one of the rectangular houses has an adorable but ordinary gable roof. The last home on the site is called the Long House, and it features a gable roof with a raised central section and a lovely skylight, which forms an elongated light well. “Every building has its own shape, size, and character, allowing guests to enjoy each space distinctly through shadow play,” said AOA Architects principal Jaewon Suh.

While designing the various buildings, AOA Architects were inspired by countryside structures like warehouses and cabins. They wanted to create a space that is influenced by its surroundings, while also creating something new and innovative “The main concept and goal of the design is to build something familiar and also unfamiliar in a rural area,” said Suh. “For some, the Octagonal House looks like a nomadic tent and feels like an octagonal pavilion, the Long House looks like a milk carton or a grain warehouse, and the Round House looks like a slender piece of wood or a face with a hat, but these associations do not matter.”

All the buildings have been built from textured concrete, and are topped by corrugated metal roofs. The communal building has an exposed concrete structure, and massive glass doors that occupy one wall, which lead to the concrete walkway and offer expansive views of the various houses.

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Starbucks transforms a traditional ‘hanok’ home into its newest outpost in South Korea

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Starbucks announced the opening of a special new location on October 20th, 2022 in Daegu, South Korea. The beautiful store was created by transforming a traditional Korean-style house known as ‘Hanok’, which has been in existence for more than a hundred years. The exterior and the interior of the home have been designed in a traditional style.

Designer: Starbucks

The entire space is marked by an exposed wooden framework, tiled gabled roof, and ornamental detailing which are placed on top of a brick foundation. A lot of the original features have been preserved and maintained such as the roof, rafters, columns, floors, and beams. The cafe is an interesting and beautiful mix of modern and traditional elements.

Once you enter the cafe, you are completely enthralled by the fact that it accurately mimics a Hanok. The open and spacious interiors have dry gardens incorporated into the floorings, with the rooms opening up into a serene outdoor garden. It occupies around 7000 square feet and can seat about 120 people. Quite a few of the seats have been positioned on the parquet floor of the space, which provides stunning views of the outdoor garden.

The Daegu store will be supplied with music via a Bang & Olufsen sound system which was created especially for this space. In fact, Bang & Olufsen is a partner, and will be celebrating the opening of the store with a series of exciting events!

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Safe Tag makes smartphones buying experience in stores convenient without sacrificing security

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With the Safe Tag in use, you can walk into a smartphone retail store, pick up a phone of your choice and roam around the store testing it before buying without a store representative stalking you as if you were a thief.

There are a range of strategies and devices used by mobile phone retail stores to address the problem of shoplifting. One of the most prominently used is merchandising security that allows customers to pick and test a new smartphone while keeping it tethered to the display furniture. Some wireless mobile security systems, like the Safe Tag in use at the T-Factory retail store in Mapo-gu, Seoul in South Korea, have presented a workaround for this ugly user experience of anti-theft cables locking devices to the stand.

The Safe Tag for one allows customers to get rid of the shackles of cables holding the smartphones back – limiting the user experience – and allows them to freely pick up and tinker with the phone. The Tag, however, ensures the smartphone in the consumer’s hand is always protected by the wireless cradle that delivers a security alarm and sends location data directly to the store manager. It lets the staff remain assured that the phone will not be stolen and the resulting consumer experience is as smooth as silk.

This wireless security device for displaying mobile phones in stores is fashioned in two parts, the tag and the cradle. While the two, finished in a matte white hue, are designed to work in tandem, they can also pull off the job independently in case the tag is detached from the cradle. Using the Smart Tag is simple, the retailer can connect the tag to the smartphone’s charging pin and dock the tag into its cradle. The charging pin connected to the phone features a sliding hinge to ensure it can rock back and forth to accommodate smartphones of any thickness.

Once installed and placed on the display furniture, the Safe Tag is functional. It transmits a docked phone’s specifics to the linked e-ink display for user convenience and instantly rings a security alarm when a customer detaches the phone or the tag from the cradle. The alarm is accompanied by the location data, both of which are sent directly to the store manager who can then know the whereabouts of the phone. Interestingly, the alarm is also sounded if the phone travels – with the tag – beyond the specified distance from the cradle that features a built-in battery to run wirelessly, if required.

The Safe Tag is useful and effective as an anti-theft mechanism in retail stores for high-value devices like phones and deserves to travel beyond the bounds of South Korea. Though we are hopeful it will happen soon, there is no official word from the makers on this yet.

Designer: Kongtech Design Team

 

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The world’s first floating city designed by BIG & backed by UN can withstand Category 5 hurricans!

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OCEANIX, an ambitious floating architecture concept envisioned to be built off the South Korean coast by BIG – Bjarke Ingel‘s design group. It was first revealed in 2019 and now has received the green light from UN-Habitat and the Metropolitan City of Busan to begin construction. The futuristic sustainable city can also withstand category 5 hurricanes!

Given the rising sea levels, fast growing coastal cities have resorted to expanding into the ocean by creating new land using sand which causes harm to the existing marine ecosystem only to be partially submerged a few years later. BIG came up with a better solution with OCEANIX as it introduces a modular design system with net-zero energy that allows people to live sustainably and safely. The cities are made up of 2-hectare, 300-resident neighborhoods which then connect to form 1,650-person villages including systems like underwater farming and greenhouses to make it as self-sufficient as possible!

“Sustainable floating cities are a part of the arsenal of climate adaptation strategies available to us. Instead of fighting with water, let us learn to live in harmony with it. We look forward to developing climate adaptation and nature-based solutions through the floating city concept, and Busan is the ideal choice to deploy the prototype,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director.

Inhabitants can easily walk around or take a boat to navigate between the floating communities which will include residences as well as a public square, art installations, marketplaces, sports clubs, schools, and more. It is also designed to be able to withstand natural disasters such as tsunamis and hurricanes. All structures will be under seven stories in height to create a low center of gravity, and platforms are built of locally sourced materials like fast-growing bamboo that has six times the tensile strength of steel, a negative carbon footprint, and can be grown in the neighborhoods themselves!

“9 out of 10 of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas by 2050. The sea is our fate – It may also be our future,” said BIG founder Bjarke Ingels who has time an again pushed the boundaries of architecture and design by bringing impossible concepts to life. OCEANIX is trailblazing a new industry with blue technologies that meet humanity’s shelter, energy, water and food needs without killing marine ecosystems. It is made to grow, adapt and tranform organically over time with humans and the climate while balancing the needs of both!

Designer: BIG

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Tesla’s Model 3 under investigation in South Korean safety probe

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South Korea has launched a safety probe into Tesla, focusing on braking and steering systems including Autopilot, according to Reuters. The transport ministry is specifically looking at the the Model 3 in an investigation that could take from six mon...