UPDATE, Dec. 13:
Bloomberg News reports that MVRDV, the Dutch architecture company that designed the much criticized “pixelated cloud” buildings may modify the design in the wake of the negative reactions.
Bloomberg:
“It may be difficult for the developer to go on with the current design after getting negative attention in the mass media,” Lee Sang Yun, a professor at Yonsei University’s department of architectural engineering in Seoul, said by phone.
The development is near the Yongsan U.S. Army Garrison, the headquarters of American forces in South Korea. The U.S. has maintained a military presence in South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953. It’s moving to a supporting role in Yongsan with the U.S. base there scheduled to return to South Korean control by 2016, according to the State Department’s website.
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Original Post:
The Dutch architecture company MVRDV has designed two luxury residential high-rise towers to be built at the Yongsan Business district in Seoul, South Korea, and to be completed in 2015.
The design of the towers includes a so-called “pixelated cloud” feature connecting the two towers around the 27th floors.
Inside the cloud, besides the residential function, 14,357m2 of amenities are located: the sky lounge – a large connecting atrium, a wellness centre, conference centre, fitness studio, various pools, restaurants and cafes. On top of the cloud are a series of public and private outside spaces, patios, decks, gardens and pools. To allow fast access the cloud is accessible by special express elevators.
All good and well. But there is a slight problem of perception that has become quite a controversy.
The problem is that the towers, as seen in the picture, eerily resemble the World Trade Center Towers as they were collapsing — one at a time — after the 9/11 attacks.
Reacting to the budding controversy, MVRDV has issued an apology:
MVRDV regrets deeply any connotations The Cloud projects evokes regarding 9/11.
The Cloud was designed based on parameters such as sunlight, outside spaces, living quality for inhabitants and the city. It is one of many projects in which MVRDV experiments with a raised city level to reinvent the often solitary typology of the skyscraper. It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, it was not our intention.
However, even in the apology, there is an additional little problem — but only caught by those who understand Dutch — because, according to the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Jan Knikker of MVRDV has said “Ik moet toegeven dat wij ook even aan 11 september 2001 dachten… Maar het is niet de bedoeling een associatie met de aanslagen neer te zetten.” Or, in English, “I have to admit that we also thought for a moment of 9/11 … But it is not the intention to create an association to the attacks.”
You decide.
Image courtesy Algemeen Dagblad
UPDATE:
This image from the Weekly Standard gives a better perspective:
