Passive House Award 2014

This seminar and apartment building is an extension of the existing training academy of Korean food manufacturers Pulmuone Health & Living Co. The company‘s desire to build in an environmentally friendly way is very much in line with its focus on sustainable farming and healthy food. The building is situated on the edge of a nature reserve, at a significant distance from the existing academy. It uses its position in this natural landscape well, taking full advantage of the topography. Thanks to its free-flowing forms, an ancestral grave was preserved in its original surroundings. The building hosts a seminar wing with several classrooms and a kitchen area. The rooms are connected by a spacious entrance hall and lobby. Guest apartments, in the form of both single and shared rooms with individual bathrooms, are located in another wing. Large, open areas on the first floor and in the gallery serve as common spaces. The design is sculptural in nature with variety of free forms – a reflection of the building’s backdrop, which is characterised by terraced rice paddies along the slopes and trees covering rolling hills, punctuated by meadows with gravel fields. Developed in multiple levels, the green roof forms a bridge with the wild landscape and harbours accessible foot-paths leading into the wilderness. Curved forms remain a key theme within the building itself. All throughout the interior, visual reminders of the building’s outdoor surroundings abound. Direct access to the outdoors is built into every section and level of the building. The individual rooms and auditoriums within form independent structures, connected to one another by open spaces. The building materials and surfaces are dominated by natural materials including wood, stone, and clay. This borrows directly from construction materials typically found in traditional Korean architecture. The energy concept, designed according to the Passive House Standard, provides a high level of comfort during Korea’s cold winters and hot, humid summers. The building’s mechanical systems are optimised for the climatic conditions, supporting both cooling and dehumidification.