The Galleria, South Korea’s oldest department store franchise, has recently opened a new store in one of the country’s newest towns, Gwanggyo.
The building, Galleria’s sixth branch, has a very unique design to say the least. The facade combines multifaceted glass that appears to be breaking out from within opaque stone, as if the building was shedding its old skin and revealing the new.
See Also: Cathedral design is inspired by a Bishop’s headpiece
Appearing as sculpted stone emerging from the ground, the store is meant as a visual anchor in the city. A public route is excavated from the stone volume and connects the public sidewalk to a roof garden that includes retail and cultural activities. The glass, meanwhile, reveals the retail and cultural activities happening inside to passers-by. For those inside, the glass creates new vantage points to experience Gwanggyo. The public loop is formed with a sequence of cascading terraces and offers spaces for exhibitions and performances.
Eight unique departments are spread across the building’s 12 floors:
Floor one - Boutique & Jewelry
Floor two - Prestige Boutique
Floor three and four - Women’s Fashion
Floor five - Men’s Fashion
Floor six - Kids & Family + Mega Shop
Floor seven and eight - Sport & Leisure, Home & Living
Floor nine - Dining
Floor ten and eleven - Cinema
Floor 12 - Lounge & Academy
The project, which has been completed, was led by OMA partner Chris van Duijn.
Related Stories
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Architecture Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Callison, Stantec, Gensler top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the United States.
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Engineering Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, AECOM, Henderson Engineers top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the United States.
| Aug 5, 2013
Retail market shows signs of life [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Retail rentals and occupancy are finally on the rise after a long stretch in the doldrums.
| Aug 5, 2013
Top Retail Construction Firms [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Shawmut, Whiting-Turner, PCL top Building Design+Construction's 2013 ranking of the largest retail contractor and construction management firms in the United States.
| Jul 31, 2013
Hotel, retail sectors bright spots of sluggish nonresidential construction market
A disappointing recovery of the U.S. economy is limiting need for new nonresidential building activity, said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker in the AIA's semi-annual Consensus Construction Forecast, released today. As a result, AIA reduced its projections for 2013 spending to 2.3%.
| Jul 19, 2013
Renovation, adaptive reuse stay strong, providing fertile ground for growth [2013 Giants 300 Report]
Increasingly, owners recognize that existing buildings represent a considerable resource in embodied energy, which can often be leveraged for lower front-end costs and a faster turnaround than new construction.
| Jul 18, 2013
Koolhaas plan selected for Miami Beach Convention Center redevelopment [slideshow]
The master plan by OMA's Rem Koolhaas and Shohei Shigematsu beat out a submission by Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group for the massive redo of the Miami Beach Convention Center.
| Jul 17, 2013
CBRE recognizes nation's best green research projects
A rating system for comparative tenant energy use and a detailed evaluation of Energy Star energy management strategies are among the green research projects to be honored by commercial real estate giant CBRE Group.
| Jul 17, 2013
Retail store openings at five-year high
Analysis by RBC Capital Markets shows that U.S. retailers are planning to open 42,757 stores over the next 12 months, and some 83,700 locations over the next two years, both five-year highs.
| Jul 15, 2013
Developer plans to convert historic Kansas City high-rise to mixed-use with 55 new apartments
An $18 million redevelopment proposal would convert a historic Kansas City high-rise into a commercial/residential property.