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ORIENT WATCH GUILDING PLANT (SAMBO ALLOY), Ansan, 1992

 

Scope

Architectural Design, Landscape Design, Construction Supervision

 

Client

Orient Watch Corporation

 

Orient Watch Company had to relocate its watch gilding factory to an industrial site as it was considered a pollution industry. Oikos formulated as program requirement to design an environmentally friendly building, and to create a sense of family between labor and management. In the new factory employee productivity increased by a rather unheard of 25%. This fact triggered many features by various Korean TV stations and Business Newspapers.

 

To demonstrate that the building is clean and delightful Oikos brought nature close to and into the building. An inner court garden affords plants and daylight so that most people spaces, even the mechanical rooms, are day-lighted and have natural ventilation. A tree-canopied arrival plaza provides a place where workers and managers can casually mix before and after work or during their lunch break. The cafeteria is placed on the ground level with view and access to a garden. It is screened from the building entrance area by a garden wall. The building colors are inspired by traditional Korean architecture. Plant workers participated in indoor color schemes, most detailing of the enclosing metal fence and gate was left to the handimen who enthusiastically welcomed this freedom.

 

Publication

Sambo Alloy Plant: A search for ordinary architecture, in: PLUS 1994/12, pp74-81

 

Sambo Alloy Plant, in: Contemporary Architecture, 1996/9, pp 224-233

 

Contemporary Korean Architecture: Industrial Buildings, pp 102-105