Seoul Music and Sound School
Seoul, South Korea
2016
Seoul, South Korea
Competition: 2016
Status: Competition Entry- 5th Place
Gross floor area: 5,200m²
Client: City of Seoul, Korea
Architect: AXIA Design Associates
Project team: Taymoore Balbaa, Chris Wong, Michael Good, Leisdania Reynoso, Justine Houseley, Stuart Vaz
Executive architect: Seoinn Design Group
Visualization: Eric Reid
In an international design competition for a Music and Sound School for Youth located in Seoul, South Korea, AXIA’s proposal won fifth place. Taking inspiration from the concept of musical composition — the crafting of parts into a harmonious whole — our design for the school strikes a delicate balance among spaces of practical training, theoretical pedagogy, technological innovation, and public enjoyment and interaction. The inspirational power of music and the positive impact it can have on our young people offered a powerful starting point and creative springboard for our proposition.
The building’s massing and general placement of volumes create strong connections to the immediate context. This overall strategy prioritizes the formation of a significant new urban space: a music courtyard optimized for outdoor performances, both formal and improvised. Strategically located entry points, as well as an anchor café, connect the building back to the sloping terrain of the site. Pedestrian connections to the school are reinforced by these points of entry and by their adjacencies to the churches and other facilities that comprise the surrounding area.
The Black Box Performance Hall is nestled within the larger cube-shaped building, with a clear and direct street-level entrance achieved from two sides of the site. A neighbouring lobby provides a flexible space for exhibitions and intermissions during performances, while giving the centre a decidedly public address. Occupying the upper levels of the cube, spaces dedicated to training in music and dance enjoy an elevated status, meant to inspire students to achieve their highest goals in the arts. The stacked volumes of the cube comprise a complex arrangement of spaces, themselves appropriate to the acoustical, lighting, and volumetric requirements of their assigned programmes.
The lecture rooms, labs and studios of the education zone occupy the sunken courtyard, providing an inward-focused space of theory and practice. The strategic location of light and sound-sensitive spaces takes advantage of this lower condition, while energizing this level with student activity. A main lecture hall is located directly alongside the music courtyard, and comprises another opportunity for public engagement.
