The winning entry for the Gwanggyo City Centre, a new city to be constructed just south of South Korea’s Seoul, exists as a sort of hanging gardens-meets-metropolis. Designed as a fully self-sufficient city for up to 77,000 inhabitants, its nodal ‘hill’ structures concentrate residency, work, and play facilities in one interactive center to build a sense of community while reducing dependance on train or auto transportation.
courtesy of © MVRDV
Within each ‘hill’ and internal irrigation system stores extra water from the buildings and channels it to ‘planters’ containing box hedges, which ring each floor. These improve ventilation by filtering air as it passes through as well as reducing energy usage through evaporative cooling while the internal irrigation system reduces water usage through the negation of need for an independent source of irrigation.
courtesy of © MVRDV
The concentric ringed floors step in as the building rises (or outwards if looking from top, down). MVRDV states ‘By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life’.
courtesy of © MVRDV
Project info :
Architect: MVRDV
Location: Gwanggyo, South Korea
Status: Competition
Year: 2008–2008
Surface: 117000 m²
Client: Daewoo Consortium and DA Group, Seoul, SKR
Programmes: Retail, Residential, Cultural, Master plan
Themes: Architecture, Mixed use, Sustainability, Urbanism, Culture
Matt Davis is a Virginia Tech graduate and one of the founding editors behind Arch2O. Launching the platform in mid‑2012 alongside fellow Hokies, he helped shape its identity as an international hub for design innovation and critical dialogue . With a foundation in architectural education and a passion for uncovering unconventional design approaches, Matt has contributed significantly—both editorially and strategically—to Arch2O’s growth, ensuring that emerging architects, academics, and creatives have a space to question, explore, and elevate the built environment.