2008. 8. 26. 21:24ㆍ건축의 내계
Togok (XL Towers) Height 1,444 ft. Project, 1996-2002
ARCHITECT Rem Koolhaas | OMA
ENGINEER Cecil Balmond, Philip dilley | Arup
Togok(XL Tower) reinvents the typology of the tall building, traditionally defined by the invention of the elevator, steel construction, and electricty. A proposal designed by Rem Koolhaas for a mostly vacant site on the perimeter of Seoul, Korea, Togok consists of a cluster of six buildings of various heights located on a central, elevated plinth. Two of the six towers are arranged and inclined to form A-frames with their opposite towers. The inclined towers link up with the structures opposite them and pass tangentially to the central structure. All are tied together with a structural and circulation collar. While, separately, the buildings would be slender enough to require extensive dynamic control, together they create a stiff ensemble capable of sustaining large lateral, as well as vertical, loads. This connection is exploited through the use of springs and dampers at the "passing" connections of the inclined central tower to control wind vibrations. This system eshews the need for extremely deep floor plates and a central core that traditionally provides lateral stability.
Unlike the solitary skyscraper where most activity occurs inside, Togok is intended to create "continuity, variety, and programmatic richness," adding to the intensification of urban life. In the words of the architect: "The different elements support each other in every sense: architecturally, they form an integrated complex ; technically, issues of stability, access, circulation, and serving are organized collectively ; urbanistically, the entire building becomes an urban quarter of a new kind."
The complex offers approximately four million square feet of retail space and 1.5 million square feet of hotel accommodations, as well as a winter garden, a convention center, restaurants, shops, a fusion hall, a pool, a 10,000-seat stadium, a virtual entertainment center, and extensive underground parking. Main vertical access is provided through two center of the city by subway, bus, tram, and a proposed new monorail system.
True to his 1978 manifesto Delirious New York, Koolhaas here proposes an architecture that conditions and fabricates content, framing and writing the script of urban life through tectonic means