20
LIGHTING DESIGN
Korea Development Bank in Seoul/ROK
21
Glowing in the wind
Korea Development Bank Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea Banks make very appreciative clients. This is not necessarily because they deal with an internationally popular commodity, but because one can be sure that banks expect a high-quality, well thought out concept for both the architecture and the lighting design and are open for modern ideas. Financing institutes play a significant role in the future planning of a nation. If a country's financial system is sound, the economy will also be sound. If the economy is sound, the social structure of the country will be sound. Through its architecture, its corporate statement in the urban landscape, a bank must inspire confidence and optimism.
The entrance area is the most striking architectural design element in the Korea Development Bank. Light from beneath the canopy retraces the elliptical shape of this main feature.
Designer's description: A glowing new beacon for the South Korean economy The Korea Development Bank, one of Asia’s leading investment banks, selected a highly visible location for their new headquarters in Seoul’s primary business district along a stately colonnade leading to the National Assembly and across from Youido Park, a vast green open space. In response to the bank’s multiple functions and evolving role, Los Angeles based architectural firm DMJM Hee-Rim Architects & Engineers has created a building that juxtaposes distinct geometric volumes against wideopen spaces that are unified under a single canopy. The building dynamically addresses the park with the irregular façade created by the elliptical and trapezoidal volumes. Towards the rectilinear cityscape the building presents a stable conformist façade that offers the appearance of an eight-storey glass box. The trapezoidal, elliptical, and rectangular volumes pull away from the building’s core to form a grand interior atrium. Fisher Marantz Stone’s brief as project lighting designers was to support these concepts and to convey the dynamism and transparency that guide the bank, while providing an exhilarating visual event during evening hours in this prominent neighborhood. The transparency of the building’s various curtain wall surfaces allowed the designers to create an internally glowing lantern that has become a new landmark in the heart of Seoul, providing a visual and volumetric balance to the linear boulevard and offering a counterpoint to the more traditional National Assembly building anchoring the boulevard’s opposite end. Design sessions in New York and Los Angeles, and formal presentations to the bank in Seoul helped shape and refine the lighting concepts for the project which attempted to articulate the distinct shape of
each component while uniting the entire project into an intelligible whole. After dark, the lighting scheme clearly articulates the building’s distinct volumes, emphasizing the play of the geometric shapes while revealing the dynamic spaces between. Thoughtfully organized groups of luminaires not only illuminate the spaces but also relate the divergent architectural volumes. Around the site, pedestrianscale poles with indirect sources uplight reflector discs, emulating the uplight effect created by the cantilevered roof volume while providing illumination for the exterior walkways. The site lighting is complemented by the gently uplit tree colonnades, wall-mounted steplights, and grade recessed marker lights. The heart and focal center of the building is the elliptical Banking Hall, which houses typical consumer banking concerns like ATMs, tellers, and routine financial services. The bank chose to elevate this function by locating it in the most visually striking volume thereby deliberately exposing its public agenda. The lighting design echoes this transparency by creating a consistent glow emanating from within. 10 watt compact fluorescent grade recessed uplights and downlights spaced closely on-center throughout the perimeter delineate the volume. The result is a warm, inviting hall, a "jewel in the box” glowing from its ensconced location in the building. 250 watt metal halide fixtures located at the banking hall roof wallwash the elliptical column and uplight the soaring roof volume, which contains executive offices. Around the roof edge, metal halide downlights organized in pairs traverse the perimeter, providing walkway illumination seven stories below. The trapezoidal volume contains specialized office functions and meeting areas. Within its exterior niches and slots, ceramic-discharge metal-halide 100 watt
Through the lighting the building has become a central feature within the urban context.
22
PAR38 uplights with interchangeable lenses (a new technology for South Korea at the time), and colored linear fluorescent uplights provide playful accents during holidays and special occasions while defining the building’s volumes and shapes. The slender, rectilinear bar-shaped volume houses typical office functions as well as the building’s main entrance. A six-storey box-shaped volume was removed from the vertical curtain-wall façade to create an entry portal covered by a soaring seven-story canopy. Above, an array of 10 watt compact fluorescent uplights helps define and separate the roof from the office volume. At the grand entry soffit, ceramic-discharge metal-halide 100 watt PAR38 downlights, carefully organized in groups of four, produce a pool of light that emphasizes the entry and welcomes the visitor. The downlight clusters create a rhythmic pattern that responds to the soffit’s modular design, while playing into the building’s geometric expression. Interior vignettes of the illuminated grand atrium are revealed upon approach through the building’s transparent façade. Hovering over the hall, a concealed fluorescent system above the metal grid ceiling creates a luminous plane capping the eight-story atrium. The fluorescent fixtures also provide the roof skylights with a glowing halo which is visible from the taller buildings surrounding the site. Within the atrium, the luminous ceiling effect is supplemented with strategically located adjustable ceramic-discharge metal halide 150 watt T6 downlights. The fluorescent lights and the downlights are accessible through service catwalks, eliminating the need for expensive lifts. The design for the project was completed in mid 1997, just as Korea and most of Asia were entering an era of substantial economic hardship. The financial crisis of the late 1990’s slowed but did not halt construction of the new headquarters. In the end, the stability and resiliency displayed by the bank during these harsh times – exemplified by its determination to complete the new headquarters – served as an example and signal of hope. By the time the building was completed in the summer of 2002, Korea was rebounding from its economic woes and positioning itself as a leader in the economic renaissance across the region.
Text: Charles G. Stone II and Enrique García Carrera
LIGHTING DESIGN
Korea Development Bank in Seoul/ROK
23
100 watt metal halide wallwasher
58 watt, 1,6 metres long fluorescent uplight
10 watt compact fluorescent uplight
Transparency is a central theme of the project.
Section, concept and details of the elliptical main entrance area. Below: view of the interior.
39 watt metal halide downlight
Bankbusiness leuchtet Lighting design, being part of the architectural design, is a classic stylistic means with which a bank can present itself and its qualities and is therefore a must. A bank that hides away in the dark and does not promote itself in its urban context is not likely to be seen as self-confident and successful. In our modern society, money works around the clock, 24 hours a day. And although there is no direct link between this fact and light, there is a psychological association firmly fixed in the backs of the minds of potential customers and business partners. Comparable to a town, whose vitality can be read in the light it receives, this applies, but in a far more subtle way, for banks. New coins have a definite sparkle. We all know that the value of a coin does not depend on whether it is shiny or not, but we feel happier with
bright, shiny coins in our pockets, than with a handful of dull ones. Why am I pondering over this? The Korea Development Bank Headquarters is a fine example of the sparkle that inspires confidence, also with regard to economic and cultural aspects. The architecture of the building could probably be found in any other future-oriented city in the world that is aligned to western economy thinking. The new building of this particular bank is a symbol of the forward-looking attitude that currently reigns in South Korea, and for a modern industrial nation that is committed to doing international business. The lighting design concept is professional and has clearly been worked out to the finest detail. The lighting underlines the architectural design and the philosophy of the overall project perfectly. The brief meant that the design team were not able to comply 100 per cent with the cultural peculiarities of the location. One of the typical features of Asian lighting culture are cold luminous colours with high Kelvin values. Fisher Marantz Stone's approach for the KDB project emphasized the use of stable, high CRI sources. The building design based on vast spaces, high entrance soffits and multiple-story atrium and overhanging roof, dictated the use of optically precise, high-output light fixtures. To obtain such precision and output using compact fluorescent or linear fluorescent sources would have required large fittings that would have been out of step with the architectural design. The high quality of light sought, paired with the light fitting dimensions and optical requirements, led the designers to the selection of ceramic metal halide as the source of choice for several applications within the project. At the time, this technology was only available in 3000K color temperature, which limited the choice of color. Since high color rendering and consistency of color from lamp to lamp was a
24
LIGHTING DESIGN
Korea Development Bank in Seoul/ROK
25
Project team: Architect: DMJM / Hee-Rim Architects & Engineers, Los Angeles Lighting design: Fisher Marantz Stone, New York Design team: Charles G. Stone II, IALD, ELDA, Enrique Garcia Carrera, IALD The project won an IALD Award of Excellence in 2003. Products applied: Edison Price Lighting: Recessed metal halide and compact fluorescent downlights; Recessed compact fluorescent wallwashers Bega: Exterior grade recessed compact fluorescent marker lights, compact fluorescent steplights, exterior metal halide pedestrian pole lights Trilux: Recessed fluorescent downlights Designplan: Interior and exterior compact fluorescent grade recessed uplights Hydrel: Exterior grade recessed and surface mounted metal halide uplights Erco: Recessed metal halide and compact fluorescent downlights DZ Licht: Exterior metal halide pedestrian pole lights WE-EF: Adjustable metal halide floodlights Elliptipar: Exterior metal halide wallwasher uplights DAL: Exterior Surface mounted metal halide downlights
100 watt metal halide downlight
150 watt metal halide adjustable downlight
10 watt compact fluorescent downlight
72 watt fluorescent downlight
Charles G. Stone II, IALD, ELDA, Enrique Garcia Carrera, IALD.
Info ≥ 6
Info ≥ 7
Info ≥ 8 Info ≥ 9 Info ≥ 10 Info ≥ 11 Info ≥ 12 Info ≥ 13 Info ≥ 14 Info ≥ 15
52 watt compact fluorescent wallwasher
100 watt metal halide uplight 10 watt compact fluorescent uplight
Section and details of the interior spaces and the façade.
Design and realisation of the project were of the highest quality.
higher priority, the choice of color was mostly dictated by the choice of source. To maintain commonality throughout the building, the compact fluorescent and linear fluorescent sources were also selected in 3000K temperature. These constraints have by no means undermined the quality of the design. The architecture has a definite western feel, which is accepted by the client and the bank staff. The oval glazed body is the most striking feature of the ensemble. It glows like a lantern in the night, standing out against the other more conventional building sections and the adjacent buildings. Light alone can give the structure of the building form and shape. The projection of the oval structure beneath the grand entry soffit could almost be described as playful. It may not have been compulsory for the success of the project, but can lead the viewer to make his own interpretations of the architecture, to discover the "lantern" – the core of the bank's activities – a symbol of cool but powerful enterprise. The project is a classic piece of work from Fisher Marantz Stone, whose team applied sensitivity and experience to achieve the final result. The bank was designed as a landmark and symbolic project for the nation. What better way of fulfilling this aim than to have the building glow against the otherwise dark urban backdrop.
Text: Joachim Ritter Photos: Tim Hursley, The Arkansas Office