Grimshaw wins contest for South Korea station

Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners in partnership with Kunwon architects in Seoul has won the architectural competition for the new high speed rail terminus in Pusan, South Korea’s second city.

Grimshaw’s team beat 18 other competitors including Richard Rogers Partnership, Terry Farrell Partnership and Foreign Office Architects.

The masterplan for the Pusan rail link, called The Secret Garden City, features 16 platform designs. There is a pedestrian thoroughfare at the heart of the scheme.

“Taller buildings are expressed as a series of independent forms which appear to float above the landscaping,” says a Grimshaw spokesman. The station’s tilted and domed honeycomb structure provides a new landmark for the city: The Eye of Pusan Bay.

Grimshaw is also working on the 170m airport project, Zurich 2000. John Herbert Partnership, part of the multi-disciplinary team led by Grimshaw, will design the airport’s retail facilities.

The main terminal will feature a new butterfly-shaped passenger area which will be “a virtually column-free space so passengers see entirely their orientation”, says a Grimshaw spokeswoman.

Work starts on site after Christmas and should be completed by about the year 2000.