Songdo Convensia, Incheon, Korea
A pivotal component in New Songdo City’s development as an international business hub, the convention center is prominently located at the southern end of Central Park, the largest green space in the 1,415-acre, master-planned community. The low-rise complex is conceptualized as a series of folded roof planes - a “landscape” that extends the natural setting of the park into the city.
The large-scale folds are segments of arcs that contain the convention center’s main programmatic elements, including exhibition halls, pre-function areas, support space, and the loading zone. Support spaces are articulated as a series of freestanding blocks, above which the curved roofs floats, like a series of upturned boat hulls. The planar areas between these hull-shaped forms are folded upward to generate a series of large, gable-like openings that push the pre-function areas outward, engaging the street and providing large, light-filled gathering spaces for convention visitors.
The boat elements, essentially large bow-trusses, form the primary structural system for the convention center and support a 144-meter-long, column-free span - a dimension unprecedented for this type of program.
songdo convensiA
KPF, BAUM
