2
FKI Tower / Seoul / South Korea / 2014
This tower for the Federation of Korean Industries has a sawtooth facade with photovoltaic panels integrated into the spandrel. This takes advantage of South Korea’s generous renewable energy payback policy, while solving one of Gill’s pet peeves: all-glass offices where the occupants are forced to pull down the shades against the glare. The PV is angled towards the sun, while the glass is tilted inwards 15° to reduce the thermal load on the building and the glare inside the space. From the outside looking up, those close by see their surroundings reflected back at them, the ground plane transitioning to sky. There is one drawback: when you’re in the space looking out, the ceiling light system is reflected back at you in the tipped glass, so the ceiling ideally needs to be kept neutral with the lighting placed somewhere else. “We like this wall so much that we call it our ‘typical wall’ and we simply modify it now. If the client is looking for something simple, rational, if they don’t want to get too complicated on their exterior wall, it’s a really simple way to get a unique characteristic in a building.”
Leave a comment