As the premiere school of technology of Korea, the challenge was to create a state-of-the-art landmark, an icon that represents KAIST as the focal point of its campus. At the same time, the campus is made up of varying urban forces, between its buildings, landscape and relationship to infrastructure. Our proposal attempts to offer a strategic rationale to produce the most powerful icon while addressing the various urbanistic parameters in ways that enhance the existing campus and create a platform for a strong future.

Programmatically, the KAIST Memorial Building offers a unique and unprecedented opportunity to combine a working laboratory building with a space of exhibition, public dialogue and urban engagement.  These two programs are, in many ways, diametrically opposed, and while one could contrive a way to combine them together, the best solution is to find a productive intersection between the two so that each may also function independently where necessary. In this context, our foremost decision was to divide our scheme into two components: a base and a small tower. The responsibilities of the base are to create immediate urban connections to the campus, while the tower can control a panoramic link to the highway, entry road and exhibit a larger command of the landscape. 

Principal-in-Charge: Nader Tehrani
Design Principal: Monica Ponce de Leon
Project Architect: Dan Gallagher
Project Coordinators: Jeff Dee, Brandon Clifford, Richard Lee
Project Team: Remon Alberts, Jiyoung Park