Culture within a democracy is an open process. Our primary contextual spot was the history of the central square around the fountain. The idea was to create an exceptional form of public stimulated by the idea of democracy that gives at the same time an interrelation to the new ensemble of cultural institutions.

program context

iconographic context

urban context

The order of the building volumes as four towers hovering above a new ground level embeds the given program into a very clear and intelligent design scheme.

The site is at the same time a historical place and one of the national icons of (south) Korean identity: the place where the democracy movement of the 18th May 1980 started.

Through the aggregation of the four towers the ACC has a consistent and recognizable appearance while the area between the towers and the city is used for a transition towards the local city.

complex multi-institutional relations

18th May 1980 Democracy Movement

Gwangju local scale vs. global icon
 
 

networking institutions

new public space

urban transition