Agricultural Resources Management Institute

Location: Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea
Year: 2022-
Type: International Competition, 1st Prize
Status: In Progress
Size: 70,000 sqft
Program: Seed, Crop, Agricultural Machinery Storage, Office, Housing
Team: Morgane Copp, Jiwon Heo
AOR: PRAUD

The Ring & The Wings

The architecture and masterplan for the New Agricultural Resources Management Institute is a center designed to aid innovation in the cultivation of sustainable practices of agriculture. The primary concept for the project is initiated by the site as divided into four quadrants to which the Institute responds in four different manners. The quadrants are acknowledged by two long pitched-roof buildings called “the wings” that house the crop and seed storage facilities, allowing operational access for agricultural vehicles and machines, framing the seed drying field of the northeast quadrant. The two wings meet at the center of the site which at the ground level creates a crossing connecting all four quadrants for visual and circulatory movement. Directly above the crossing on a second level is the operational hub where programs dedicated to the agricultural workers, managers, and researchers meet. Extending from this hub to the southwest quadrant is “the ring” of worker’s housing which floats above the site, framing an entry courtyard and tree grove.

The building’s materials are simple and straightforward. The primary wall construction is dark gray concrete. The roof is a standing-seam zinc structurally supported by a steel frame. These two material systems deal with almost all the major enclosures. These are durable materials easily maintained, resistant to deterioration. The only material difference is found on the end elevations of the two agricultural wings, which are clad in reflective anodized aluminum panels, apparently supporting oversized roof scuppers. These elevations reflect the constantly changing light of the landscape in a diffused manner and establish the characteristics of these two terminal moments of an otherwise looping tectonics.

We have titled the project The Ring and the Wings. It is an architecture which strives to create a place that both binds us in a contract for better land stewardship and at the same time foster innovative research into the everchanging relationships between humans and environments through agriculture.