Heatherwick Studio proposes hourglass-shaped volumes for Seoul shopping center

Another mixed-use retail project from Heatherwick Studio is coming to Seoul. The newly announced Hanwha Galleria project covers an existing metro subway station with a glass atrium and two landscaped plaza areas. Two asymmetrical glass volumes resembling hourglass forms and containing gardened areas conceal its program. According to the firm’s project description, the structures come sheathed in a double-skinned facade that can be programmed for nighttime projections.

Neil Hubbard, partner and group leader at Heatherwick studio, described: “Traditionally, department stores are quite inward facing, they feel closed off to the surrounding streets. But here we have an important intersection in Apgujeong with two buildings, east and west, that felt like an opportunity to bring people together.”

Local studio Haeahn Architecture will collaborate on its design. 

The project’s announcement follows Thomas Heatherwick being named as General Director of the fifth edition of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism, which takes place from September 1st to October 31st next year. Heatherwick is also behind the new ‘Soundscape’ public park designed for the city’s artificial Nodeul Island and scheduled to open by the year 2027.