Gongju, South Korea. 2021
PROGRAM: schools, dormitory, gymnasium and performance hall
CLIENT: College of Education, KongJu University
STATUS: competition
1. Site Connect to Nature: Buildings on the plateau site form a central garden at the heart of this school-like-a-village. With ginkgo trees, pools, and landscaping like ancient Korean gardens, this will be a place of calm inspiration.
2. Life/Body/Mind/Art: School as village in four distinct buildings.
3. Individuation: A proven positive for autistic children, a sense of individuation is expressed in unique colors in each of the residences. A variety of living spaces also contributes individual character. Most dorm rooms have direct cross ventilation. Classrooms are directly accessible from the ground level.
4. Ecological Vision: CLT wood construction, exposed at interiors for a feeling of warmth is insulated on the exterior with skin of “poraver”, a new recycled stucco-like material made of waste glass beads. Rainwater collection and recycling connect to the watershed of the mountain landscape. Geothermal heating and cooling together with state of the art solar shingle roofs bring the project to a near net zero ecological example. The vertical colored blades at the dorm rooms are also effective for the cut-off heat gain in the East and West facing façade.
5. Orientation, Accessibility and Detail: Clear orientation for the special needs students is created through circulation on the mountain side in continuous movement while living and classroom spaces open to the garden side. Accessibility is paramount with a series of spaces for collective engagement and individual reflection in the main garden giving a strong sense of location and direction in a space that is helping Autistic student’s sensory system development. Throughout the complex, aspects such as digital clock towers which shows the seasonal change with time will add to the special qualities of this village.
− Zero carbon emission building with CLT for structure and finishes
− Geothermal wells provide all heating and cooling low energy seasonal cycle
− Green roof and urban farm connected to agriculture labs for growing and composting of food
− 4000 M2 of rooftop PV cells power the net zero campus integrated greenspace reduces heat island effect and provides rainwater buffer reflecting pools stormwater retention system recycled for sanitary use
architect
- Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl (design architect, principal)
Noah Yaffe (partner in charge)
JongSeo Lee (project architect)
Lourenzo Amaro de Oliveira, Ruoyu Wei, Apostolos Gredis, Michael Haddy (competition team)
associate architects
- Junglim Architecture
sustainability consultant
- Transsolar