Open Paradox – KAIST IT Convergence Center by MANIFESTO + ILKUN

The proposed Open Ikun MANIFESTO and Paradox for the Convergence Center Information Technology KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), seeks to provide a research environment and multi-disciplinary education for the institute. Located on a slope, the East Campus of KAIST, the building allows free interaction between students and faculty with all academic disciplines as well as the rest of the school population and the public, fostering an atmosphere of creativity and openness. This proposal was the 3rd prize in the design and also the 2010 AIA NY Design Award.

The location of the building takes into account its relationship with the campus as a whole, allow people easily to approach from all surrounding areas of the campus, it delivers previously denied the northeast corner of the campus with a new and living presence. The open square includes a colorful landscape with several programs on it such as convergence space and an amphitheater with tiered seating on the sloping terrain.

The building divided into three zones, educational zone located at the top, the research area occupying the center, and public areas at ground level. The area of ??research, student labs located on the north, separated by a bridge-shaped atrium, with offices in the south wing. The atrium-bridge allows less emphasis on the direct association and sometimes restrictive, between student and teacher, and promotes fertilization between different disciplines and research teams. The atrium also allow educational research activities in this area are visible to the visiting public at the ground level, the result in a dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship between the three types of occupants (teachers, students and public) within the building .