METALS IN CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE 2017 DESIGN CHALLENGE
EMBOSS TOWER
2017 Competition WINNER
New York, US
Project Team:
ChungYeon Won,
JinYoung Song, Dioinno Architecture
Bongwhan Kim
The Emboss tower explores the function of structural skin, by shaping the surface of embossing to enhance the stiffness of the tower. To make the building laterally stiffer, the curved form integrates with the steel diagrid system and the embossed surface around diagrid disorienting major organizing wind reducing significant surface wind pressure. The major diagrid system with a secondary embossed surface structure which contributes to both lateral and cladding support systems provides an enhanced perimeter structural system. The embossed skin’s convex form produces a self-shading effect allowing for interior shading systems to be specified for each sub-surfaces inclination and azimuth angles, permitting more location-specific solar control. The Emboss tower uses less steel by the stiffening effect of the embossed section; eliminates the need for a conventional aluminum curtain wall; reduces the wind load; generates more leasable floor area within the same site footprint; creates versatile office environments, and presents a unique urban iconography derived from the performance of the building skin.
FORD CALUMET
ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER
2004 Competition Entry
Chicago, USA
Project Team:
Richard Yoo, ChungYeon Won
The Ford Calumet Environmental Center was an international competition held in January of 2004. The site is located in south of Chicago where the complex history has resulted in a unique juxtaposition of industry and ecology amidst historic communities. Based on the provided project goals the design process was mainly focused on site and climate interaction and technical consideration for innovative building system for sustainability.
Hegewisch Marsh, the future home of the Environmental Center, is one of many open space parcels in the Calumet region. Continuous human settlement in the Calumet region greatly altered the landscape and affected the environment. Beginning in the 1870s, the original system of sloughs, creeks and wetlands dredged, dammed and channeled into what is now the Calumet River. Much of the area’s open space was crisscrossed with railroads and streets, which facilitated the settlement of people and industries. Precious wetlands were permanently lost to landfills and large amounts of foreign materials were introduced to the land. Despite the many years of urbanization, plant and animal communities have maintained a presence in the fragments. Many of the remaining wetlands were inadvertently preserved by industrial firms and landfill operators who purchased large parcels of land for future expansion. The mere existence of these remnant natural areas ought to dispel the notion that industrial development conflicts with the environment.