Sinchon Youth Culture Basecamp

The Sinchon Youth Culture Basecamp building is strategically situated within a triangular park, serving as a dynamic hub for innovation and collaboration. Designed to accommodate office spaces for start-up assistance firms, the facility is dedicated to supporting young entrepreneurs in their 20s, fostering creativity and professional growth.

Photography: © courtesy of SoA

SoA
Seoul, South Korea
2019
Culture, public space and mixed use

Drawings: © VS-A. Group

The building’s design, conceived by the emerging architecture firm SoA (Society of Architecture), emphasizes inclusivity and interaction, creating an inviting space where individuals can gather, network, and collaborate. A key feature of the project is the visually striking screen façade, contributed by VS-A, which combines decorative aesthetics with advanced engineering.

Initially, the design concept incorporated rough stone cladding—a symbolic representation of youth, embodying resilience and raw potential. However, due to budgetary constraints and construction feasibility, the final execution utilized dangling oval-shaped aluminum panels, offering a modern and lightweight alternative while maintaining visual impact.

The façade’s intricate assembly consists of 262 vertical steel pipes, spanning a total length of 4,660 meters across an 820-square-meter wall surface. Above these structural supports, 7,892 individually crafted aluminum panels were meticulously installed. Despite their three-dimensional form, these panels were engineered for single-bend flexibility, ensuring both ease of installation and secure attachment to the steel framework.

To achieve precision in fabrication and placement, a scripting-based automation method was employed. This advanced technique enabled the exact dimensions and positioning of each component to be digitally generated and seamlessly translated into detailed construction drawings, optimizing both efficiency and accuracy.