Asian Cultural Complex
Gwangju, Korea | 2005
[honorable mention, international competition]

The act of encircling has both literal and metaphorical meanings: In an urban environment like Gwangju, encircling implies both the demarcation of a special precinct within the city's existing fabric as well as the creation of a new public common ground. Providing a porous, non-hierarchical edge to the urban surrounds, our encircling form expands the democratic territory of the existing Gwangju Fountain into a cultural complex and park on an urban scale. Through the use of a new socio-structural concept in the continuous deflected arch, continuities and reciprocal relationships between the diverse cultural programs within the building are enabled.