Seoul Skyscraper Series: Urban Hive

It's not only the exterior that's unique.

Photo Credit: Plus Mood

Next up in our Seoul Skyscraper Series is Urban Hive, a 70-meter high concrete honeycomb. Located in the busy Gangnam area, its neighbors are the GT Tower and Boutique Monaco.

The winner of the Grand Seoul Architecture Award in 2009, Urban Hive attracts many people to stop by and take a longer look at the cheese-grater-like design or have a cup of coffee at the cafe on the ground floor.

According to the Joongang Daily, Kim In-chul, Urban Hive's architect, designed the building with the belief that it was "not so much how the building is seen, but how one sees through the building".

The 3,371 holes that speckle the building have different views of the Seoul cityscape. One 105 cm-diameter hole can provide a look at landmarks like the North Seoul Tower (Namsan) while another clearly shows the nearby Kyobo Building. You can see the concept of the building with the photo below.

Photo Credit: Plus Mood

Though the building looks fairly simple at first glance, Urban Hive had to built one story at a time as it's made out of concrete. It took great effort to make sure that each of the 17 levels have the same color and texture, as the two can easily be affected by even the slightest of mistakes.

Beautiful inside and out, the efforts to create the Urban Hive might have stung like a bee, but the results are as sweet as honey.

Photo Credit: RealMikeSmith

About the author by Donna Choi

Born and raised in the States, I came to Seoul in 2009 and have loved living and working in such a high-tech and connected city ever since. I enjoy collecting unique, cute gadgets/items (I have a bread-scented smartphone case!) and traveling around Korea. My personal mission while living in Korea: Try every type of Korean food known to exist.

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