SEOUL | The Cloud | 260 & 300 M | Never Built

[KevinFromTexas]

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news...hitects-design

Some see Twin Towers blast in architect's design

By msnbc.com staff

A Dutch architectural firm says its design for a South Korean housing complex is simply meant to convey the feeling of being in the clouds, but others see something they'd rather not remember: the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2011.

"A real media storm has started and we receive threatening emails and calls of angry people calling us Al Qaeda lovers or worse," the firm, MVRDV, posted on its Facebook page on Friday after a Dutch newspaper, the Algemeen Dagblad, published a front-page architectural rendition of the project and the headline: "Inspired by Twin Towers?"

The cloud structure is used to connect the two towers with corridors that also serve as meeting places. The complex is set to open in Seoul in 2015.

The towers are part of a bigger project, called the Yongsan Dream Hub, whose designer is Daniel Libeskind -- the master plan architect for reconstruction at New York's Ground Zero.


MVRDV

Renderings

http://inhabitat.com/the-cloud-mvrdv...cloud-mvrdv-1/


MVRDV
http://inhabitat.com/the-cloud-mvrdv...cloud-mvrdv-1/

[Acer1]

http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-architec...022518356.html

SEOUL (Reuters) - A Dutch architectural firm has apologized for its design of twin skyscrapers in central Seoul which resemble the exploding World Trade Center towers in New York and have infuriated families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The blueprint for the luxury apartment buildings was released last week and shows a structure which juts out at the middle to accommodate pools, restaurants, cafes and a gym.

Relatives of victims of al Qaeda's September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States have expressed outrage, according to U.S. media reports, saying the designers have no respect for those that died and branding the design a cheap publicity stunt.

Designer MVRDV said it had not intended to create an image resembling the attacks, and it did not see the resemblance during the design process.

"We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt. It was not our intention," the company said on its website.

It did not indicate whether it would change the design.

"A real media storm has started and we receive threatening emails and calls of angry people calling us al Qaeda lovers or worse," it said on its Facebook page.

The district developer is expected to decide on the final design plans by March.

(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Nick Macfie)

[Austinlee]

Looks more like a tumor of something.

[HomeInMyShoes]

While this one falls into the historical allusion failure category when I first saw it, I really liked the we've taken Habitat and put it between two buildings concept. Overall, it's odd, but I kind of like it.

[SonnyinMiami]

My sentiments on this design:

Pre- 9/11 : Unique, Beautiful & Daring Design.

Post- 9/11 : Tactless, Tasteless & Painful to look at ..., Are you Effen Serious ?!? What was this design firm thinking ?!? Sept. 11th was barely 10 years ago !!!

[sbarn]

No. Strike. Design fail.

I really like MVRDV and I see what their intention was for the parti, however it seems they failed to take a step back and long look at their design proposal to see if it had any broader implications. Back to the drawing board.

[kingkirbythe....]

It's a beautiful building. I hope it gets built as is.

[Axiom]

These towers are a brilliant design that has far more in common with Montreal's Habitat '67, Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers and New York's 56 Leonard Street than it does with the World Trade Center. The World Trade Center were two unimaginative monoliths that stike resemblance to every other building built before and after them. While this particular design does bear a resemblance to the events of 9/11, to call them a disgrace 10 years on and half a world away is just arrogant. We built airships that resembled the Hindenburg, cities that looked like Hiroshima and ships that looked like the Titanic because we brazenly moved forward to the future, not cowering from the past. We should do the same with these towers. If only more so now that people have made that connection.

P.S. I bet if the towers were round and darkly coloured people would have never made a fuss.

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

do y'all not see the part in the middle that looks like the old WTC after planes hit it?

If you don't, then look again... if you still don't, then stop coming to this site, you're too stupid to be here... LOL

[R@ptor]

Originally Posted by SonnyinMiami

Post- 9/11 : Tactless, Tasteless & Painful to look at ..., Are you Effen Serious ?!? What was this design firm thinking ?!? Sept. 11th was barely 10 years ago !!!

WTF! I think that says more about you than about the design.

As the name says that looks more like a cloud than anything else. The explosion that occurred on 9/11 never covered both towers at the same time and unlike the WTC these towers have different heights (300m & 260m).

There is NO resemblance AT ALL.

[blacktrojan3921]

Originally Posted by R@ptor

WTF! I think that says more about you than about the design.

As the name says that looks more like a cloud than anything else. The explosion that occurred on 9/11 never covered both towers at the same time and unlike the WTC these towers have different heights (300m & 260m).

There is NO resemblance AT ALL.

Tell that to them American a-holes who use 9-11 as a way to stir up a shitstorm .

Even though I am very curious on how practical "the cloud" is, being an upside-down pyramid there's the concern that it might put too much weight on the lower parts and will create alot of wind resistance.

[Urbannizer]

Cancelled

April 2013:

http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/...home|newslist1

The 31 trillion won ($27 billion) Yongsan property development project, the largest-ever in Korean history, is officially dead in the water after a seven-year struggle.

According to Korail, the largest stakeholder of the Yongsan International Business District development project yesterday, the company’s board of directors voted to revoke the project and land contracts.

All 13 members of the board agreed to put an end to it. “Korail tried to normalize the project in order to minimize the social and economic loss for society, but private investors including Lotte Tour Development and Samsung C&T were opposed to our proposal,” the company said in a statement.