According to a recent article in Construction Executive’s Tech Trends, the world’s first “invisible” building has been granted a building permit by the South Korean government for a location just outside of Seoul, Korea near the Incheon International Airport.
A press release from the California-based GDS Architects announcing the permit approval includes the following statement about the design of the 1,476-foot-tall “Infinity Tower”:
“GDS in collaboration with Samoo Architects and A&U were awarded first prize in a National Design Competition sponsored by Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) to provide Design and Engineering services for the 450 meter tall Observation Tower poised to become Korea's National Landmark back in April 2011. In addition, GDS Architects won the original International Idea Competition out of 146 entries from 46 countries in December of 2008.”
The Construction Executive article says that the building “will include observation decks, movie theaters, a water park, a roller coaster, restaurants and bars.” Construction is scheduled to begin next year.
The design concept was based on the use of Korean LED technology on the building skin to project real-time images captured with 18 cameras of the sky, clouds, and other surroundings to make the structure seem to blend in with what is behind it. Operators will be able to control the different levels of visibility by varying the power of those projections.
The design will cause the building to virtually disappear – hopefully not to the pilots of the planes landing nearby!
Photo courtesy GDS Architects
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