La Maison Hermès Dosan Park, Seoul Store, South Korean Shop Building Photos

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul

South Korean Store Building in Gangnam-gu design by RDAI, Architects

4 Apr 2012

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park in Seoul

Location: Seoul, South Korea

Design: RDAI

South Korean Store in Gangnam-gu

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul

630-26 Shinsa Dong – Gangnam-gu – Seoul 135-895

Our thinking – the genesis of the project

« When the president of Hermès Korea first showed me the place he envisaged buying for the construction of the Maison Hermès in Seoul, I was immediately seduced by the charm of its environment, and by the proximity to the neighbouring Dosan Park.

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul
pictures © Masao Nishikawa

Sometime after the dream having become a reality, plunged us into thinking about the construction of a building, free standing on a terrain square in form, surrounded by four streets. Several hypothesis’ resulted, and very quickly we were convinced that the characteristics of this location were unique, intrinisically strong. It appeared obvious to us that the solution was to trace on this square ground a square plan, from which emerged a cube and after a cube stretching slightly upwards.

Furthermore, following the example of the traditional Korean house, we looked for ways to give this cube courts and gardens, including one, which would open towards the park. »

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul
pictures © Masao Nishikawa

The building with its solids and its voids

« This building serves several functions – a café, shop, offices, a museum, an exhibition space – and articulates its different spaces by means of an initial vertical hollowing out with the creation of a central patio, and two horizontal perforations with the opening of terraces, one fully exposed to the sky and looking out to the park, the other covered and turned towards the city.

This play of solids and voids allows the natural light to penetrate by the interior of the building and gives its volumetric unity. It offers a promenade, which, by the bridges, the terraces and the patio, connects the different functions to each other.
The Maison Dosan Park welcomes and communicates; in this way it corresponds to Hermès way of being. »

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul
photo © DECO JOURNAL

The facade

« The facade is a double skin glass structure, silkscreen printed in fine horizontal lines, golden copper on the outer face and white on the inner face. Shining, vibrating, it plays constantly with the light that it lets enter into the building in a joyful way.
The double skin provides the interior living with privacy, whilst at the same leaving the view towards the outside free. It alludes to the characteristics of Hermès : intimacy and discretion.
This facade is also linked to the traditional expression of chiaroscuro as found throughout Asia and on the shores of the Mediterranean. »

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul
pictures © Masao Nishikawa

The architects of the project

The project was designed by Rena Dumas, in collaboration with Denis Montel architect and joint artistic director of the RDAI agency, and Nicolas Karmochkine, architect

Assistants: Jean François Py, Dong-Ha Kwak
Shop project architect: Thodoris Zoumboulakis
Construction

The Maison Hermès Dosan Park was realised with the close collaboration between Korean, Chinese and European contractors under the direction of the Korean general contractor SAMIL. This collaboration is particularly important for the facade works.

The wall of the western facade is constructed of stone, which was shipped in rough cut form from Ladoix in Burgundy France and shaped and finished in China by the contractor GARTNER. The double skin glass facade, was produced in China and exported to Korea, ready to be mounted with all finished fittings.

All the facades were hung by the Korean contractor ILJIN UNISCO
The interior fit-out was carried out by the Korean contractor UNO, using in particular Molianos stone flooring from Portugal and European cherry wood for building the furniture.

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul
photograph © MAISON

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul – Building Information

Title: La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Location: Seoul, Korea
Date: 2006
5,910 m2: headquarters and shop, reading café, contemporary art exhibition room, Museum, offices, workshops, garden.

Museum scenography by Hilton McConnico

Garden by Louis Benech

Materials

Double skin facade
Exterior skin:
15mm low iron tempered glass + gold silk screen printing, structure mirror polished stainless steel, on a 2m 20 x 2m 20 grid
Interior skin:
6mm low iron heat-strengthened glass / 2mm pvb / 6mm low iron heat-strengthened glass low-E coated 6mm / + white screen printing, polished naturel anodised aluminium joinery, on a 1m 10 x 1m 10 grid
Facade stone: Ladoix stone, staple fixed, hammered and saw-cut finished (France, Burgundy)

Interior
Partitioning: Topakustic
Glazing elements: St Gobain Stadip silence 4/4/2
False ceiling: Knauff
False flooring: Lindner
Woodwork panels: Topakustic

Sanitary fittings: Duravit
Tap fittings: Vola
Ironmongery: FSB + D line

Lift: Otis

Café parquetry floor finish: Piyncado
Exhibition parquetry floor finish: Bauwerk Beech
Shop carpet floor finish: Ruckstühl
Shop stone floor finish: Moléanos stone (Portugal), with stainless steel ex-libris recessed in stone
Office carpet floor finish: Bentzon
Soft floor finish: Forbo Sarlino Linoleum
Mosaic floor finish: Noro, Winckelmans mosac
Sol Pierre extérieure: Ladoix stone, flame finished (Burgundy, France)

Shop wall finishes: Marmorino (render finish)

Shop furniture:
European cherry wood, tinted and satin mat varnished, and Corian, all decorative metalwork in brushed nickeled brass.
Exterior and interior show windows lined in fine beige pearl Ottoman Manuel Canovas fabric. Watches / jewellery show windows lined in red Bisson Brunel woollen cloth.

Lighting:
Light fittings, specially designed for Hermès in 1925, representing a freize wall the « Grecque », and coupled with glass moulded globes, provide the general shop lighting. Low voltage spotlights, recessed in the false ceiling draw attention to the diverse products. The show windows are lit with low voltage spotlights. All the shop furniture is equipped with fluorescent tubes on the underside of the shelving and low voltage spotlights in order to bring a shine to certain products.

Office furniture, RDAI by Unifor
Café seating, RDAI by Poltrona Frau
Café pedastel table, RDAI by Crea diffusion Furniture, Artek, Classicon, Domeau Pérès, Vitra, Fritz Hansen
Light fittings, Lighting accents, Erco, Equinoxe, Zumtobel-staff
Leather upholstery for lift and sheathing of stair hand rail, Hermès Taurillon Blanc
Fabric of wall curtain for Café, Lelièvre velour Tango Beige

Areas

Land area, 1.150 m2
Gross Floor Area, 7.745 m2
Useable Floor Area, 5.910 m2
Retail area, 900 m2
Madang Café, 220 m2
Promenade Museum, 300 m2
Exhibition area, 420 m2
Showroom and workshops, 360 m2
Head office, 840 m2

Team

Client, Hermès Korea Ltd
Client representative, Davis Langdon, Seah Korea Co Ltd
Architect, RDAI
Executive Architect, Tetra Architects
Museum scenographer, Hilton McConnico
Glazing product consultants, Guillaume Saalburg (Techniques Transparentes)
Structural, plumbing and electrical engineers, Ingerop, Kunwon Ingineering
Facade engineers, Arnauld de Bussièrre international, J&S Hanbaeck
Lighting consultant, Philippe Almon
Landscape consultant, Louis Benech
Acoustic consultant, Delphi Acoustique & Ingénierie

Contractors

General contractor, SAMIL
Facade, ILJIN UNISCO, GARTNER Hong Kong
Fit-out, UNO Design
Interior curtain, Charles Jouffre

La Maison Hermès Dosan Park Seoul images / information from RDAI

Location: 630-26 Shinsa Dong – Gangnam-gu – Seoul 135-895, Korea

Korea Architecture

Korean Architecture Designs – chronological list

The Conran Shop Gangnam, Seoul
Architects: Conran and Partners
Conran Shop Seoul
photo : Woo Jin Park
The Conran Shop in Seoul

Another Hermès store design by RDAI on e-architect:

Hermès Boutique Rive Gauche Paris
Hermès Boutique Rive Gauche Paris Shop
picture : Michel Denance
Hermès Rive Gauche Paris

Another Hermès store on e-architect:

Hermès London Store
DSDHA Architects
Hermès London Store
picture from architects
Hermès London Store

Another Seoul store design on e-architect:

Ann Demeulemeester store
Minsuk Cho + Kisu Park with Ann Demeulemeester
Seoul Store
photograph © Yong-Kwan Kim
Seoul Store

Korean Architecture – Selection

The Yellow Diamond, Seoul
Jun Mitsui & Associates + Unsangdong
The Yellow Diamond

Jeongok Prehistory Museum
X-TU
Jeongok Prehistory Museum

Dalki Theme Park + Shop, Heyri
SLADE ARCHITECTURE + others
Dalki Theme Park

Korean Architect

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Website: Visit South Korea