The proposal for Gates as an urban megaform in a derelict context outside Seoul, South Korea began as a formal response to the master plan laid forth by the collective studio. In that plan, the district’s infrastructural spine (a constructed landscape that covered rails and highway) was lined by towers. Gates inverts this condition; the towers become voids. This new collective form is a modern parallel to Seoul’s medieval fortifications. It is a wall punctuated by gates, drawing a sharp division between the city and the spine through a lush forested landscape.
The gates, meanwhile, articulate connections. Pedestrians pass through the northern gate to access the top of the spine. The part of the building around this gate features community greenhouses. An arterial road passes through the southern gate, leading to Yongsan’s central train station, and the urban fabric across the spine. This gate houses a hotel. The central gate houses a crematorium and columbarium – necessities in South Korea, where cremation is subsidized and