International Plaza is one of Songdo International Business District's high-concept, Rockefeller Center-inspired complexes. Along with Gateway Center, International Plaza will form the heart of the city's commercial district. International Plaza will cover three city blocks and incorporate six commercial buildings linked by low-rise retail options. Its innovative design, state-of-the art facilities and close proximity to Central Park will make it one of the most desirable office locations in Songdo IBD.
This 5-million-square-foot mixed-use development is located on the western edge of Central Park, the main open space of Songdo City. This development consists of six separate tower buildings that sit on two adjacent north south running blocks separated by a 20-meter public road.
One key to the design is creating an internal public space that all six buildings share, a sort of city within a city. Our strategy is to integrate the 20-meter public road into the landscaped plaza like a stitch. Drop-off areas and parking happen at a sunken sky lit level so that pedestrians may cross at grade.
As the road gently rises it crests two meters above the ground plane and the plaza dips gently underneath. The public road becomes a significant element within the overall plaza design. The bringing together of these public and private urban activities will create a very dynamic and memorable place. Another key to the design is the degree to which the six buildings relate to each other and to the future context of Songdo City. A spiral progression sets the general massing of the composition with the shortest building on the south west corner of the site and the tallest on the south east corner, moving clockwise around the site.
The buildings are conceptualized as a series of north / south "plan" layers much like the layers of mountains and valleys in the Korean landscape. As a datum, we've kept an ideal planning dimension from the core to the perimeter glass wall and have allowed the ends of these layered slabs to curve and twist vertically. Adjacent buildings create a figural space between them and lock them together much like dancers create space on a dance floor.
At key moments within the design the massing of the individual buildings is broken down with reveals and interlocking edges conceptualized as ancient wood jointery. These joints and reveals offer connections to various urban scales that happen naturally throughout a city.
The long facades of the buildings are alternating panels of clear low iron, high performance glass and glass layered with copper mesh. The edges of the buildings consist of a high performance reflective glass heightening the curvature of their forms. Water harvesting, planted roofs and walls, efficient planning and use of materials, and solar energy collection comprise some of the strategies that will make this a "LEED" rated and sustainable design.