DRDS' Winning Entry for KNN Media Center Competition

In fall 2009, the entry by Californian firm DRDS Architecture won the first prize in the architectural design competition for the new KNN Media Center in Busan, Korea. The project, located in the new Centum City district, includes new broadcast facilities for KNN, office condominiums, retail spaces, and a museum. The winning proposal was a collaboration of DRDS with local design firm Ilshin Architects.

Here is how DRDS explain their design proposal:

The KNN Media Center is a new landmark broadcast headquarters and cultural media facility located in Busan’s Centum City. The new HQ will contribute, alongside other recently designed progressive works of architecture, to the definition of Centum City as a new cultural destination for Busan. Support program will include a broadcast and news studio, office condominiums, retail, and a Teddy Bear Museum.

The project’s design explores the streaming nature of broadcast as a fresh and progressive example of informed media reporting.  The building presents soft surface geometry at its base allowing visitors to subtly transition between external and internal public programs.  Integration with the surrounding context is achieved by both the scale of the building, which addresses a 1:1.8 setback angle requirement and the formal distinction between a podium base and tower.  The separation of the slender tower and twisting base creates a tension between the two in where the torquing of the base geometry is in contrast to the weight of the tower mass. Each mass is mutually distinct with regard to enclosure tectonics and spatial description.  The variation between transparency and opaqueness presents unique spatial identities for tenants occupying various portions of the open tower floorplate.

The conceptual approach for the KNN Media Center is to design a building that embodies the virtue and youthful energy depicted in KNN’s vast experience of reporting.  The new Broadcasting Headquarters will serve as a distinct landmark connected with surrounding public amenities to create a dynamic backdrop to Centum City’s seaport.  Its elegant tower proportion and sweeping base surfaces seek to establish a unique urban experience that will impact the future development of Centum City.

Project Details
Name of the project: KNN Media Center
Project Size: 67,922.17 sqm (731,106 sqft)
Result: Winning Entry
Expected completion: December 2012
Location: Centum City - Busan, Haeundae, Korea
Design Team: Paul Quinn Davis, Design Principal; Steven Ryder, Managing Principal; Daniel Carper, Lead Designer; Myoung Choong Choo, Designer; Yoosang Ahn, Designer; Jin Tack Lim, Design Intern; Ilshin Architecture and Engineering, Associate Architect

Images: DRDS