ASYMPTOTE ARCHITECTS
V. CHARLES RAJA & S. SHIVACHANDRAN
ARCHITECTS PROFILE
Founded in 1989 by Hani Rashid & Lise Anne Couture, New York city based
Asymptote Architecture is a leading international architecture practice that has
distinguished itself globally with intelligent, innovative and visionary projects that
include building designs, master planning projects art installations, virtual reality
environments as well as interiors and industrial design.
Asymptote's approach to utilizing digital tools and technologies, contemporary
theory, innovative building practices and advancements in engineering solutions and
environmental sustainability have afforded the practice a broad and powerful
perspective on all aspects related to architectural building design and city planning.
Completed projects include the Yas Viceroy Hotel in Abu Dhabi ( 2010) and ARC
Multimedia Theater in Daegu South Korea (2013), the HydraPier cultural pavilion in
the Netherlands (2004), 166 Perry condominiums (2008), Alessi HQ (2004-2012)
and the Carlos Miele flagship store in New York city (2006) and the Univers Theaters
in Aarhus Denmark (1998). Other key unbuilt projects include an award winning
design for a luxury condominium tower ( StrataTower), in Abu Dhabi, an Eco-Cultural
Master Plan for Baku, Azerbaijan, commercial office towers in Budapest, Hungary,
and the World Business Center Solomon Tower in Busan, South Korea.
Asymptote has also designed important master planing projects for Bergamo italy,
Prague the Czech Republic, Monterrey Mexico and Penang Malaysia. Presently
Asymptote is completing buildings in Gent Belgium for the ING bank HQ, two office
towers in ZhenZou China and two connected cutting edge residential towers in
Seoul Korea (Velo Towers).
Asymptote Architecture has received numerous prestigious awards including the AIA
NY chapter award, Middle Eastern Architecture Awards and Le Grand Prix de
l’Architecture in Paris, as well as received significant awards for achievement within
the discipline such as the 2004 Frederic Keisler Prize in recognition of their
exceptional contributions to the progress and merging of art and architecture.
The work of Asymptote is part of a number of private and museum collections
including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Netherlands Institute of
Architecture (NAI), the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Frac Centre in Orléans,
France and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum New York. The practices work
has been the subject of 3 monographs and is widely published internationally in
professional journals as well as the general press.
THE ARC- RIVER CULTURE MULTIMEDIA THEATER PAVILION
Location: Daegu, South Korea Client: Kwater Korea
Design Principles: Hani Structural Engineer: Knippers
Rashid, Lise Anne Couture Helbrig Stuttgard
Area: 3200.0 sqm Local Architect: EGA Seoul
Year: 2012
Detail
From the architect. The architecture of
the River Culture Pavilion ( ARC ) is an
powerful formal statement that
combines nature, technology
and space.
The bold curved form of the ARC is
perched on a peninsula that juts into
the river and surrounded by an awe
inspiring natural environment. The
building is a strong focal point set
against a stunning panoramic
landscape.
The architecture is comprised of a
vessel shaped form that is clad in silver
fritted ETFE pillows that through a play
of transparency and geometry creates
an ephemeral effect.
This atmospheric quality of the building enclosure is heightened by light reflections
from shallow pool of water that surrounds the base. While the visible portion of the
building sits atop an artificially formed landscape, the exhibition gallery
concealed below is the space through which the visitors enter.
While the exterior of the ETFE clad structure captures the quality of the changing
light with the open sky and river landscape as backdrop, the darkened and
hermetic interior of the main structure houses an immersive multimedia
environment illuminated only by projections of the abstracted and re-
conceptualized qualities of the surrounding site.
The architecture enables the visitor’s experience to be an alternating play between a
‘real’ experience of the water, sky and landscape that surrounds the building, and a
virtual experience as presented through multimedia.
SECTION
This experience culminates on the roof where a large reflecting pond reflects the sky
and an observation terrace enables the visitor to overlook the site and its natural
surroundings from yet another perspective.
INITIAL EVOLUTION SKETCHES
VELO TOWERS SEOUL, KOREA
PROJECT DETAILS
Location: Yongsan District Area: 135000.0 sqm
Design Principals: Hani Rashid,
Lise Anne Couture Year: 2012
Client: DreamHub Seoul Korea
Local Architect : Siaplan Seoul
Korea
The tallest of the towers will stand at 153 metres,
substantially shorter than the neighbouring 200 and 300-
metre-high skyscrapers proposed by
architects BIG and MVRDV for the South Korean commercial
district that was masterplanned by Daniel Libeskind.
CONCEPT – ENGINE PISTON
CONCEPT – ENGINE PISTON
PLANS @
DIFFERENT LEVELS
Velo Towers, designed for the Yongsan master plan in Seoul, Korea, are formed by
vertical cluster of cylindrical volumes which were strategically stacked and rotated to
maximize views, privacy and environmental conditions. Consisting of eight distinct
residential components, each cluster is carefully choreographed to establish a
strong visual connection with the adjacent Yongsan Park and distant Han River.
These clusters are complimented by a series of roof gardens, shared amenities and
internal circulation spaces centered around light filled open atriums.
The Towers consist of three major components: a base, the stacked volumes, and a
sky bridge. At the base, a plinth connects the towers and provides space for park
side condominiums and a covered drop off area beneath. Secondly, the stacked
volumes provide gardens, open-air stacks through the cores and a sense of discrete
communities within the larger complex. Thirdly, a sky bridge high above not only
structurally connects the two towers cores, but also provides public amenities in the
sky overlooking Seoul.
According to the architect, the tower’s “design and construction strategy exploits the
latest advances in design, materials and digital fabrication that are now being
brought forward from the automotive, aerospace and marine industries. By merging
these new means of production, and fabrication into building design the Velo Towers
offer a glimpse into the future of building with the aid of technological advancements
in the fabrication and assembly of building components.”
KAOHSIUNG PORT TERMINAL
Design Partners: Hani Rashid, Area: 15000.0 sqm
Lise Anne Couture
Client: Multifunctional
Year: 2013
Administrative City Construction
Agency (MACCA)
Structural Engineer: Knippers
Helbig
Local Architect: EGA Seoul
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Architect: Asymptote - Hani Rashid + Lise Anne
THE YAS HOTEL Couture
Client: Aldar Properties PJSC
Size: 85,000 sqm
Start: November 2007
Completion: October 2009
PLAN \ SECTION
The Yas hotel, a 500-room, 85,000-square-meter structure made up of two twelve
story hotel towers linked together by a monocoque steel and glass bridge A Grid
Shell structure that both cross above and over the Yas Marina Circuit F1 race track. It
is the first new hotel in the world to be built over an F1 race circuit. The hotel’s
exterior surface is designed as an environmentally responsive skin that by day
reflects the sky and surroundings and by night is lit by a full color changing LED
lighting system that incorporate video feeds that are transmitted over the entire
surface of the building.
Asymptote created and conceived of the building as an architectural landmark
embodying key influences and local and global inspirations ranging from the
aesthetics and forms associated with speed and spectacle to the artistry and
geometries that form the basis of ancient Islamic art and craft traditions. Of
architectural and engineering significance is the main feature of the hotelʼs design; a
217-meter expanse of sweeping, curvilinear glass and steel covering that is made up
of 5,800 pivoting diamond-shaped glass panels. This Grid-Shell component is a key
aspect of the overall architectural design and significance of the project by producing
an atmospheric-like veil visible from miles away.
The two hotel towers, one being set within the race circuit, and another
placed in the Marina itself, are physically linked by a sculpted steel
monocoque bridge construction that passes above the Formula 1 track. The
bridge along with the Grid-Shell visually connect and fuse the entire Yas
Hotel complex. The Yas Hotel was designed by Asymptote to become a
significant and important landmark for Abu Dhabi. The pixelated lighting
design by Asymptote in collaboration with Arup Lighting creates a dynamic
appearance at night, with colours flowing smoothly across the double
curved surface. says in a press release…
“The hotel embodies various key influences and inspirations ranging from
the aesthetics and forms associated with speed, movement and spectacle
to the artistry and geometries forming the basis of ancient Islamic art and
craft traditions, a perfect union and harmonious interplay between elegance
and spectacle. The search here was inspired by what one could call the ‘art’
and poetics of motor racing, specifically Formula 1, coupled with the making
of a place that celebrates Abu Dhabi as a cultural and technological tour de
force.”
THANKYOU
