Cheong-Dam Terrarium, public space+skyscrapers, Seoul, South Korea

ODA is an architectural studio based in New York, USA, whose work is developed according to the principle “to reconcile the conditions of vertical urban living with quality of life“. An example of this perspective is precisely the project to which we dedicate this space, the Cheong-Dam Terrarium Tower, a mixed-use skyscraper that won the Seoul Creative Innovation Architectural Design “pilot” competition. It is also “ODA’s first project in South Korea”. According to the architects, the firm worked in collaboration with Miraein, a local real estate developer, Index Partners, “a spatial planning and management firm” in the country, and Heerim Architects, “the leading architectural practice in [South] Korea”.

With the Seoul Creative Innovation Architectural Design competition, the city, for the first time, “incentivized the private sector to incorporate meaningful public space, in exchange for allowing participants to build more FAR and height” (where FAR – Floor Area Ratio – corresponds to the ratio between the floor area of a building and the size of the plot on which it stands). Indeed, one of the distinctive features of the Cheong-Dam Terrarium Tower is precisely the public space on the podium and the ground floor, which is wide open to the public “through porous, inviting green-spaces“. In doing so, the building reinforces the connection between the urban landscape, nature and citizens.

The 200 m high, 45-storey tower will include office and residential space and, at the bottom, a two-storey structure with multiple access points. At the bottom, a public park with lush greenery, sculpture gardens, a water feature with fountains and waterfalls, will give way to an indoor gallery of retail space, as well as a members’ club. Finally, says Eran Chen, CEO and founder of ODA, “we’re also bringing this porous design to the building’s greenery-filled terrarium, giving future tenants and residents another valuable space to engage with one another and enjoy nature”. By the “terrarium” that gives the mixed-use tower its name, Chen refers to an open, landscaped space at mid-tower height that uniquely differentiates and characterises the Cheong-Dam Terrarium.