Hanwha Human Resource Development Center (한화인재경영원)

The Hanwha Human Resource Development Center is the human-resources development centre of the Hanwha Group. It stands in Gapyeong County, about two hours by car from Seoul, at the foot of Mount Unak (운악산). It opened in 2008.

Tadao Ando provided the design as the foreign architect on the project, with the Korean firm Gansam Architects & Partners (간삼건축) as local architect; the two teams worked on it for several years. Ando and Gansam wanted the place to be one where the group helps each of its members grow.

The complex has two zones: a research building (one basement level and three levels above ground) and an accommodation building (four levels above ground), in reinforced concrete, surrounded by a wide garden and a sports field linked by walking paths. The 164,766 m² site carries 22,850 m² of floor area.

To respond to a sloping site, the architects combined a base, which holds the parking among other things, with I-shaped and L-shaped buildings laid over one another. They used the slope to keep the buildings low so that they melt into the forest, while the interior plays on the level differences with dynamic spaces. One half of the composition opens as a gathering place, the other half closes in. Between the rooms (auditorium, laboratories, restaurant, bedrooms), veranda-like galleries, courtyards and gardens between the buildings form "gaps" that open onto nature or fold inward.

The image of the stream that once crossed the site is taken up as running water brought into the buildings, a landscape element that ties together the interior, the landscape and the surrounding nature. The research building is a concrete box wrapped in a glass box, a double structure that handles insulation and daylight; the accommodation building has exterior walls of brick. Most of the buildings have a roof garden. The exposed concrete is built with the post-tensioning technique.