Cube-shaped AmorePacific headquarters building completes construction in Seoul

After eight years of construction, the AmorePacific headquarters building in the Yongsan-gu district of Seoul, South Korea was officially completed on June 15. The Cube-shaped building comprises 30 floors and 216,000 sm of space.

David Chipperfield Architects decided on using a cube shape over that of a tower because the larger footprint (approximately 100 meters x 100 meters) allowed for more communal activities through greater engagement with the street level. In addition to the headquarters space, the design of the building makes use of the street level engagement by also including public facilities such as a museum, a large auditorium, a library, a childcare facility, restaurants, bars, and cafés. “It is more than an office” says David Chipperfield, Partner and Founder of David Chipperfield Architects, in a release. “The building suggests generosity of spirit to the people who work here and the citizens. It is something that mediates between the company and the city. It shows how a company can participate in the larger community.”

The building’s compact form is broken up by openings in the façade. Each opening contains a garden and leads to a central inner courtyard. The openings also allow air and sunlight to reach the building’s interior.

AmorePacific Lobby © Noshe.

AmorePacific Garden opening © Noshe.

AmorePacific Garden © Noshe.

The Harvard studies on the unintended effects of open office defines it as space where 'one entire floor was open, transparent and boundaryless… [with] assigned seats,' and the other had 'similarly assigned seats in an open office design, with large rooms of desks and monitors and no dividers between people's desks.'