Seoul--South Korea

Harim Group Headquarters in Seoul, Korea

Harim Tower in Gangnam, Seoul is the Beck Group-designed headquarters for the Harim Group company. The building features a Zahner engineered cladding system and custom bumped and perforated stainless steel throughout the interior and exterior.

The Harim Group wanted its new corporate headquarters to reflect its focus on sustainability and caring for its employees and the public. Beck provided a unique design solution which introduced 86,000 SF of mid-rise office tower on a small but high-value site. The project includes a boardroom for Harim Group, high-end restaurants, and a café in addition to a range of office spaces.

To reduce Korea’s high energy cost and to enhance the indoor air quality, Beck designed an operable window system for natural ventilation, high performance Low-E coated windows, LED light fixtures, building automation system, green roof, rainwater harvesting system and underfloor air distribution system.

Harim Group Headquarters entrance has a curving stainless steel facade system made by Zahner.

Curved metal facade of Harim Group Headquarters in Seoul.

Curved metal 'S' shape facade of the Harim facade in stainless steel.

Making the Curved Metal Facade for Harim Group Headquarters

Working under Mijie Industrial Company, Zahner developed a custom ZEPPS feature to produce an ‘S’ shaped recess in the building’s facade. ZEPPS is the Zahner system for developing unique forms and curvatures in metal. The ‘S’ shape for Harim Tower provides a unique aesthetic and design signature for the corporate headquarters. This recessed shape also creates a low pressure zone, facilitating natural ventilation on each of the floors.

The metal system Zahner provided was developed with a deep recess cavity for the lighting system. Zahner engineers introduced a modified ZEPPS hardware component which extended the panels 14″ from the building’ surface while retaining the precision curves.

Working with Well-Light, a Korean lighting design consultant, the team installed more than 10,000 LED lights of 4,000k color temperature which show through the building’s millions of perforations. “We tested several different color temperatures,” says Jay Chung, Director of Korea Operations at Beck Group. ”When we tried 3,000k color temperature lights it looked like the building was on fire. The 4,000k lights ended up giving us the perfect light. Plus they’re energy efficient.”

Detail of the curved stainless steel facade with custom perforated emboss panels.

Detail of the custom perforated emboss used to bump and perf the stainless steel facade.

WRNS Studio is an architecture and planning firm that provides sustainable design for education, healthcare, transportation, civic and urban mixed-use. The award-winning firm is recognized nationally, and is based in San Francisco with offices in New York City and Honolulu.

The firm has developed a growing number of works with Zahner, starting with the the Studio Libeskind-designed Contemporary Jewish Museum in which WRNS served as Architect of Record. Since then, Zahner has worked with WRNS on a number of projects, develop their unique design concepts into custom architectural systems, featured below.

Daeyang Gallery and House

Designed by Steven Holl Architects with architect of record E.Rae Architects of Seoul, this unique structure serves dual purposes, as both a residential guest house as well as an art gallery for visitors. JongSeo Lee of Steven Holl Architects was the associate in charge, and the project was completed in 2011.

The structure’s geometry is inspired by a John Cage sketch for a music score by the composer Istvan Anhalt, ‘Symphony of Modules,’ which Cage illustrated in an abstract form. The unusual shaped composition has now been reimagined as the plan layout of the Daeyang residence, continuing the chain from music, to art, to architecture.

This state of continued change and process informs many aspects of the building. Zahner worked closely with both the owner and the design team to develop a custom patina for the copper panel system that would match the desired coloration with natural warmth and texture.

Related Surface

Daeyang Gallery

Because of the unique range of tones and the material’s rich aging process, copper holds a special significance in the hearts and minds of those at Zahner. The material’s tone and color is perpetually in a state of flux, changing with each location based on the temperature, moisture, and pollutants in its environment.

This constant state of change will add character and soul to the gallery’s surface. The custom deep red tone that was developed will likely darken over time, and eventually may even begin to green and blue. The difference between copper and other materials, is that this constant state of ‘corrosion’ is actually the process of forming a stunningly beautiful protective barrier which will outlast any sealer, paint, or protective coating.

View through the slats of the Daeyang Gallery entrance.

Architect's model of the Daeyang Gallery and House.

Front gates of the Daeyang Gallery and House.

Detail of the copper patina for the Daeyang Gallery and House.

Panoramic of the Daeyang Gallery and House during construction.

Bamboo form construction for Daeyang Gallery and House.

Copper wall panel for the Daeyang Gallery and House.

Daeyang Gallery and House during construction.

Installation of wall panel systems for Daeyang Gallery and House.

The custom panels were installed by local workers in Seoul, South Korea. Zahner supplied the pre-engineered panels which securely locked into the substructure. Photographs of the completed building can be viewed at Steven Holl Architects website.