[ MAD, BIG, INABA and Mass Studies ] Ansan urban plan

Proposals by architects MAD, BIG, INABA, and Mass Studies for an urban plan for the city of Ansan in South Korea are on show at the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan.

Each of the four projects is meant to be viewed at two scales - asproposals for monumental buildings in the city and as furniture in thegallery where they are displayed. Top image: Rendered site view of newAnsan city plan.

“The project is a response to the current economic climate, whereeven the most hyped and hubristic projects can be cancelled ordownsized at a moment’s notice,” say MAD. “These four scalableproposals demonstrate architecture that can be useful at any scale, andwith any budget.”

The exhibition continues until 15 February 2009.

Above: Walk This Way by INABA. “Walk This Way is a wayfinding deviceimpersonating a building. It is an architectural beacon that directstraffic to Ansan’s attractions: one arrow points people in thedirection of the development area proposed by BIG INABA MAD MASS, theother points inhabitants to city’s center.”

Above and below: Urban Porosity by BIG. “A shifting stack ofbuilding blocks constitutes a two faced architectural structure. Oneside an inhabitable bookshelf, on the other a new urban landscape forAnsan.”

Here’s some more information from MAD:

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BIG INABA MAD MASS
Four Proposals for Ansan,
Jeffrey Inaba, Minsuk Cho
Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan City, Korea

Organized by Hong-hee Kim, Hyun Jeung Kim, Jeffrey Inaba

Four architecture offices, BIG, INABA, MAD, and Mass Studies haveproposed an urban plan for Ansan, South Korea which will be exhibitedat the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art in Ansan City beginning 17December 2008.

The joint project by the four firms, BIG (Copenhagen), INABA (LosAngeles), MAD (Beijing), and Mass Studies (Seoul) uses versatilearchitectural forms that change in size and use. The principals of thefour offices, Jeffrey Inaba, and Minsuk Cho reinterpret the term‘economies of scale’ to mean the value of a single architectural formthat functions at several scales. The works are adaptable enough sothat the same form can be enlarged or shrunk and still function as abuilding. They have the added capacity to dramatically change in sizeand transform in use from building to furniture to toy.

Given today’s economic instability, the architects propose anarchitecture that can be sized to accommodate changes in availablefunding. The forms have been developed so that if a project’sinvestment capital decreases, it can be scaled down; alternatively, ifgreater financing becomes available, the same form can be scaled up.These firms believe architecture does not have to be inhabitable and intune with the human scale at just one size; it can be conceived withgreater utility in mind so that the form can be enjoyed even whenreduced or increased by 40, 50, or 60 percent. In the context of theexhibition, they have taken the idea of scalability further bydeveloping works that function even when scaled 1,000 and 10,000percent.

Above and below: Beautiful Minds by  MAD. “An artificial andintelligent response to Ansan’s natural environment. At the urbanscale, a cultural pyramid topped with inspiration pods suspended highabove the city. At the scale of furniture, a place to sit, read, andlearn, with the tentacles providing a different kind of illumination.”

At the invitation of the Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (GMoMA), theoffices designed a master plan and a set of four buildings in the citywhere the museum is located. The plan for a riverfront area of Ansan, acity of 550,000 inhabitants located near Seoul, includes housing,commercial, retail and municipal spaces. The proposed buildings whichrange in height from 80 to 400 meters and in length up to 1500 metersare displayed in the museum lobby in drawings, animations and fourlarge models.

As an experiment in the economies of scale, the models are alsodesigned as inhabitable objects in their own right. Each model of theirurban plan is a furniture piece of their lobby plan. Thethree-dimensional representations of the buildings function as elementsof GMoMA’s interior serving as a new bookshop, a set of seats andtables, a lounge area, and a reception kiosk. As a third variation, theforms will be produced at an even smaller scale as a reading lamp,light fixture, puzzle, and toy.

Architects have throughout time promoted their work through objectsthat are analogous to their designs for buildings. The architecturalmodel helps audiences to visualize and appreciate a proposed buildingand in turn generate excitement, anticipation and demand for theproject before it is built. In that sense, architecture has always beena practice of advertising scaled versions of itself. BIG INABA MAD MASSattempts to add another level of utility and promotion to this timetested practice by having the large-scale proposal advertise thesmall-scale version of the same form. The show’s architectural modelshave been made to draw interest in the urban plan while the urban planwas made to invite visitors to experience the works displayed in theshow.

Above and below: Mutated Slabs and Robotic Towers by MASS Studies.“Radically different functional forms - mutated slabs and robotictowers - create spatial diversity and playfulness within the museumlobby. The larger picture presents two new urban typologies that shapean urban identity for an Ansan  futurama.”

Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG - is a Copenhagen based group of over 60architects, designers, builders and thinkers operating within thefields of architecture, urbanism, research and development.
INABA is a Los Angeles-based firm founded by Jeffrey Inaba thatspecializes in transforming cultural research into urban design andarchitecture.

MAD is a Beijing-based architectural design studio dedicated tocreating innovative projects that combine a sophisticated designphilosophy with advanced technology in the areas of architecturaldesign, landscape design and urban planning.
Mass Studies was founded by Minsuk Cho in Seoul as a vehicle tocritically investigate architecture in the context of mass production,intensely over-populated urban conditions and other emergent culturalniches.

Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art
Ansan City, Korea
Exhibition Dates: 17 December 2008 to 15 February 2009
For visitor information go to: www.gmoma.org
Tel. +82 (0) 31 481-7000