The first floor is a transparent base that invites people in; the upper levels house showrooms and are largely windowless.
John Horner The first floor is a transparent base that invites people in; the upper levels house showrooms and are largely windowless.

Category: Work
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In Seoul, buying a home is a little bit like shopping at Ikea: Instead of touring individual houses with a broker, a prospective buyer visits a model home gallery (usually run by one of the country’s five major development corporations), and bases his or her purchase off of an apartment showroom. But these galleries not only showcase the apartments available in the dozens of towers under construction, they also serve as community gathering spaces.

For the Samsung Model Home Gallery, Boston-based firm NADAAA created a 105,000-square-foot, high-design shell, with an aluminum-fin-clad volume to house the model apartments rising from a glazed base. “To me, the base is what’s successful because of what it does,” juror David Jameson said. “It’s a supergraphic for a house.”

The building’s ground level features granite floors to echo the surrounding sidewalks. The creased ceiling plane echoes the geometry of the glazed base’s roofline; it also integrates the lighting and mechanical fixtures. The ground-floor public spaces include an auditorium, a café, and a gallery, punctuated by a light well that brings daylight deep into the floor plate. The ceiling plane folds down to the floor in places, creating enclosures for the escalators that convey visitors to the apartment showcases above. “I like the plans; I think it’s intelligently done,” juror hSheila Kennedy said, noting “a sensitivity” in the approach to the project. What happens to the gallery after the homes have all been sold was a question that the jury raised, but, in the meantime, the public space makes the project a good neighbor.

See all of the winners of ARCHITECT's 2013 Annual Design Review here.

For additional coverage of the Samsung Model Home Gallery, please read Ian Volner's piece from the June 2013 issue of ARCHITECT.

For more projects by NADAAA, please visit ARCHITECT's Project Gallery.

Aluminum fins clad the exterior of the Model Home Gallery's upper floors.
Aluminum fins clad the exterior of the Model Home Gallery's upper floors.
The gallery has to do more than showcase model apartments, it also serves as a civic structure, with a plaza to attract area residents.
John Horner The gallery has to do more than showcase model apartments, it also serves as a civic structure, with a plaza to attract area residents.
Exterior at night.
John Horner Exterior at night.

SamsungModelHomeGallery_NADAA_ADRAwards.jpg

John Horner
The ground floor forms a sort of hypostyle hall, with the articulated ceiling plane extending to the ground to encase columns, elevators, and escalators. The stone tiles that line the space are part of the flooring detail system designed by NADAAA, which aims to continue the exterior plaza into the building.
John Horner The ground floor forms a sort of hypostyle hall, with the articulated ceiling plane extending to the ground to encase columns, elevators, and escalators. The stone tiles that line the space are part of the flooring detail system designed by NADAAA, which aims to continue the exterior plaza into the building.

Project Credits Project  Model Home Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
Client  Samsung Corp.
Architect  NADAAA, Boston—Nader Tehrani, Katie Faulkner, AIA (principals in charge); Kevin Lee (project coordinator); Dan Gallagher, Ellee Lee, Richard Lee, John Houser, Ryan Murphy, Samuel Jacobson, Tom Beresford, Tim Wong, AIA (project team)
Local Architect  AandD
Mechanical and Electrical Engineer  Chungwoo Engineering
Structural Engineer  Yunwoo Structural
Civil Engineer  Daegyo
Landscape Architect  Dongshimwon
Lighting  Taewon Electrical
Exterior  Woojung
Curtainwall  Daemuyng Gunyoung
Energy Consultant  Gunhwan
Traffic Consultant  KTS
Exhibition  A Works
Cost Estimator  Shinhwa Interior
Size  105,000 square feet
Cost  Withheld