A Swanky Departmental Store

Galleria Cheonan, Korea

The department store is no longer solely a commercial space, it now offers the architect the opportunity to build upon and expand the social and cultural experience of the visitor. Earlier, Built Expressions has featured some of the UNStudio's architectural marvels. One of the marvels which we will be focusing in this issue is Galleria Centercity Department Store in the Korean city of Cheonan. The project reclaims the social and cultural space within the private, commercial large scale department store.

In Korea, the typology of the luxury department store represents more than just shopping. Department stores are places for leisure and social events. UNStudio responds to this by paying great attention to the public areas of the store. The spatial and visual connections within the space are designed to generate a lively and stimulating environment, in which the user, not the merchandise, is central.

Rather than being the outcome of a prescriptive, standard-critical approach, the design of the Galleria Centercity is based on observations of current behavioural tendencies in large commercial spaces. Particularly in South East Asia, department stores serve a highly social function; people meet, gather, eat, drink and both shop and window shop in these venues. An expanded interpretation of utility beyond efficiency and profitability is at the heart of the design. In view of this, along with a more varied programme, UNStudio’s design seeks to provide a stimulating experience for the visitor.

Location 

The Galleria Cheonan Department Store marks the entrance to the new development area. It is prominently visible from the main road that declines down from the direction of Seoul. As such, the building will play a major role in the new urban development.

Galleria Centercity, Cheonan is truly an architectural marvel of its kind. Sharing his experience working in this acclaimed project Mr. Ben van Berkel, Co-Founder & Principal Architect, UNStudio says, "We enjoyed working on this project. We learned that Asia department stores are actually mixed-use projects to a certain extent, as they also serve cultural functions. In the case of the Galleria Centercity, this included among others a cinema/arts space, art display areas and a children’s centre. It was fascinating to see that such buildings can actually become public centres, even when their primary function is to house high-end retail outlets. But the more diverse and unusual you can make the programmes, the better the opportunities to give the buildings a new kind of appearance."

Main Architectural Principle

The main architectural theme is that of dynamic flow. This is found both inside and outside. The architecture of the 66,000 m² building responds to its central position by presenting a deliberately changeable aspect all-around. Moiré effects, special lighting and animations ensure that the outside changes appearance constantly. Inside and outside are brought together in an intricate manner, as four different thematic interior clusters can be identified in the exterior surface.

This project has completely changed the concept of Department Store. Explaining about the concept Mr. van Berkel says, "The concept for the project is in fact not immediately evident that it is a department store. This possibility for double readings can also be experienced in the moiré effect of the facade, where it is not clear at first glance whether the facade is sculptural or is simply a flat surface. Similarly, the central void creates illusions of scale. In the programme this play on, perception can be found in how the project can at times be experienced as a museum, or as a cultural centre with a high public attraction factor. Conversely, it can be experienced as a very high end department store. So, this potential for double readings on different levels is the key concept of the project."

Media facade - The largest illuminated surface of its kind in the world

The double layered facade encloses the building, with a number of strategic openings incorporated into the inner facade layer. These openings provide daylight to the interior. At the same time, the lamellas of the outer facade prevent direct sunlight from entering the building, ensuring a cooler environment, while the use of white finishes throughout the interior minimises the need for artificial lighting.

Elaborating on the design of the exterior of this slender project Mr. van Berkel says, "The exterior is articulated in very diverse ways. We wanted to design a closed facade that would create a certain fascination for the public and which would have numerous possible layers of reading and perception. This was done through the lighting design and animations in the evenings and through the double-layered skin which creates a very graphic moiré effect during day time. So, regardless of the time of day, or the angle of perception, the building can at all time function as a communication device."

The interior derives its character from the accumulation of rounded plateaus on long columns. The repetition of curves, enhanced by coiled strip lighting in the ceilings of the platforms, gives the interior its distinctive character. This organization has been made possible because of the complex spatial arrangement of the atrium. This central void is simple and straight in one cross- section, but oblique and jagged in the opposite cross-section. The result can be seen as a kind of spatial waterfall, a relatively narrow central void cuts through the volume from top to base, with  smaller pockets of space emanating from it, like rivulets.

Four stacked programme clusters, each encompassing three storeys and containing public plateaus, are linked to the central void. This organisation propels a fluent upstream flow of people through the building, from the ground floor atrium to the roof terrace. As the plateaus are positioned in a rotational manner in space, they enable the central space to encompass way finding, vertical circulation, orientation and act as main attractor of the department store. The spatial and visual connections within the space are designed to generate a lively and stimulating environment, in which the user is central.

Circulations is achieved by escalators, which are positioned on both sides of the atrium; a panorama elevator by the void; and elevators placed in the east and west lobby.

Describing some of the special features of this unique structure in terms of its colour and aesthetics, Mr. van Berkel says, "The facade is built up of a double layer of triangular profiles fronted with glass. The reflections of light on the glass and the profiles behind create an indirect, diffused light. Although, it is an LED facade, the double layer of the design and the effects this creates means that you do not experience it as a typical LED facade. In fact, when viewed from a distance it takes on the appearance of a high definition screen."

Lighting Design

During the day, the building has a monochrome reflective appearance, whilst at night soft colours are used to generate waves of coloured light across the facade.

The lighting design was developed in parallel with the architecture and capitalizes on the double layered facade structure. To achieve the large media surface with a minimum of lighting fixtures and light spill, the specially designed and custom produced fixtures are integrated within the mullions of the outer facade layer. Invisible from the outside, these fixtures project light back onto the inner clad facade layer, in-between the vertical mullions. Large scale pixels are projected. According to the position within the waves created by the moiré effect, the lighting fixtures are set as RGB or white lights. At the corners of the building, the low resolution media walls fluidly turn into a high resolution zone, capable of displaying information with more detail.

Animations to Highlight Building

The animations were designed by UNStudio. The specially designed content refers to the themes related to the department store: fashion, events, art and public life. A computer system randomly shuffles preselected clips and transitions. Special effects are created considering saturation, rhythm and location on each of the facades. The optical illusion is omnipresent at night time, when the lighting projections cause the vertical mullions of the back wall to disappear. When seen from a distance the visuals on the large canvas are sharp and recognizable, whereas from within the direct vicinity these appear dissolved and cause the building to glow.

Lighting Effect on Ceiling

The ceiling lighting plays an important role. It produces a chandelier effect; just like the grand chandelier of a palace, the rings of light draw the eye upward and emphasize the height, brightness and spaciousness of the surroundings. The design concept is based on the division of each department store floor in two zones - a more public zone oriented towards the central void and a peripheral zone extending deep into the store zone. Closer to the void the lighting strips widen, becoming lighting zones which follow the curvatures of the ceiling edges and further emphasize the curvilinear organization of the void. The void together with the ceiling and railing design become the luminous heart of the building.

Special Interior Spaces

UNStudio has designed the interiors of three semi-public spaces in more detail. These concern the VIP Room, the art centre, and the customer service areas. The interior design of these spaces encompasses vertical partitions featuring a performative pattern based on the diamond motif, which adapt to the different needs and conditions of the various spaces. The family of vertical surfaces appear in several expressions: either as semitransparent membranes or as opaque solids. These surfaces afford various views, creating privacy in the VIP area, becoming pure decoration, or serving as bookshelves or as space for integrating brand logos.

These 'special programmes' support the client's unique idea of combining a large scale department store with various cultural and public programmes, demonstrating the significance and great potential as a public service provider of the typology of the department store .

In the basement, a food court and specialty supermarket constitutes another distinct destination within the building, which is simultaneously integrated with the overall design strategy. Some of the special programs are located on the upper levels of the building in close connection with the rooftop terraces. These terraces provide extensions of the public part of the interior.

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