PROJECT DETAILS
UNStudio’s competition-winning masterplan design for the Korean National Football Centre in Seoul celebrates the history and future of Korean football and the power of sport, focusing on health, wellness, science, technology and education and promotes a healthy lifestyle.
The masterplan designs from UNStudio include national and youth training facilities, over a dozen sports field typologies, running tracks and indoor gymnasiums, as well as a wellness centre and high-end hotel. The focal point of the masterplan will be the central public plaza, located at the heart of the complex. The museum, indoor stadium and outdoor stadium will frame a public pedestrian area that houses restaurants, shops and a variety of semi-public sports facilities. The Centre will take on two programmes, becoming home to the Korean national team and their trainers, as well as a laboratory for future generations helping to foster their careers.
“The most interesting thing is that when you work with physical, built models in architecture, you cannot really go into the model. That is the advantage of the Spaceform platform. You can really go into the model and look around, walk around, and see other people moving. The data-driven design tool enabled seamless collaboration with the KFA team in real-time. The 3D work environment proved to be a very efficient virtual workspace that not only saved us the burden of long distance travel, but also helped us to break down language barriers, because the platform is very intuitive and visually focused. This platform enables an inclusive design process, where all stakeholders have a voice. SpaceForm helped us to enhance team communication and bridge client interaction from abroad. The interactive work sessions unlocked great opportunities in the design of the stadium”
UNStudio founder and principal architect Ben van Berkel.
The B1M – the world’s largest and most subscribed-to video channel for construction – have demonstrated how SpaceForm was used by both the architects and client, on this masterplan celebrating the history and future of Korean football and the power of sport, health, wellness, science, technology and education. Watch the film here.
THE BRIEF
UNStudio, in collaboration with the Korean Football Association (KFA), needed a space to explore, develop and share this project in real-time across the world without the need to travel. The teams expressed a need to easily immerse themselves in their virtual 3D work environment, imagine a virtual workshop space where site images, maps, data and 3D models for the project can be uploaded, viewed and manipulated in collaboration together. The KFA also needed somewhere to share the wider plans virtually to the public.
OUR RESPONSE
SpaceForm has been used to virtually communicate the architects’ competition-winning designs for the Korean National Football Centre. Hosted in the cloud, it is a more sustainable way to meet, collaborate and design remotely and UNStudio have been using the platform throughout the design phases of their major masterplan for the KFA, who also used SpaceForm to share the wider plans virtually to the public.
SpaceForm provided a platform for story-telling and the ability for design teams to turn a project into an interactive narrative experience, with stakeholders discovering their own journey throughout the project while helping make key decisions.
SpaceForm is built on top of Unreal Engine, from Epic Games, which also powers the world’s leading games and is used across many industries due to its ability to handle large data sets at a high degree of fidelity – a key asset for SpaceForm. Epic Games supported SpaceForm with an Epic MegaGrant just over a year ago, which was used to help build the proof of the concept. The creator of Unreal Engine and Fortnite supported the project due to its collaborative focus, an aspect which Epic see as crucial, particularly during a time when meeting physically around the world is difficult.
The KFA were able to present their designs for the state-of-the-art training complex outside of Seoul, South Korea to its public. The project allows users to explore the masterplan, navigate to any location within the complex and even takes users on a tour inside the new directors’ suite, overlooking the main training stadium. The ‘open world environment’ has a base site layer with new buildings placed as interchangeable modules. Complete with animated cars, realistic people and even the national team practising on the pitches, this project has been delivered in VR, desktop and streamed environments.
