Lotte World Seoul Sky - The Origin and Birth of Korea 2016-2017

Designers: Ahn SoYun,Park Daesun, Daehong Communications : Design Marketing Center, Daehong Communications, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Client: Lotte World Seoul Sky, Seoul, Republic of Korea

•The Origin and Birth of Korea: From a Waiting Area to a Complex Cultural Space 

•Turning the Act of Waiting into the Pleasure of a Cultural Experience

“The Origin and Birth of Korea” is where people purchase tickets and wait for the Seoul Sky elevator. By analyzing users’ itinerary, Seoul Sky employed a heightened service design to change a usually negative experience of waiting to enter the observatory into an enjoyable experience involving media art. It was thus able to transform the concept of a public space.  

Generally, a public space focuses on functions including its usage, safety, convenience, efficiency, and overall meaning. “The Origin and Birth of Korea” applies a mega-sized media wall column and media wall to such a public space, together with infotainment, in order to satisfy every visitor’s curiosity and provide maximum pleasure, while at the same time adding value to the user experience through orientation and entertainment before a person looks around the observatory. 

“The Origin and Birth of Korea” is divided into “The Origin of Korea” in the ticketing area and “The Birth of Korea” in the waiting area to enter the observatory. Through the flow of visitor traffic in these areas, people experience media art and infographics as they have their curiosity aroused along with their expectations and pleasure before actually entering the observatory. 

•A Complex Cultural Space Evoking Curiosity, Understanding and Pleasure 

“The Origin of Korea” is organized in the form of a circle that is reminiscent of a plaza where people can meet others as they purchase their tickets, so the convenient flow of human traffic was taken into account with the original design. In addition, the media art presentation, where a mega-scale media wall column and the media wall respond to each other, allows Seoul Sky and the shopping mall to be experientially separated. The essence of this place comes down to a media art experience under the theme of “the origin of life and culture.” Starting with light and darkness from the Christian notion of Creation as well as the principles of yin and yang, which are considered the basis of the East Asian world and life itself, content consisting of dots, lines, surfaces and Hangeul—all of which represent cultural archetypes—is displayed upon the column and the wall. 

“The Birth of Korea” was designed to remind people of a complex cultural space where a media façade shows video images. Through the massive video images displayed on the façade and over the ceiling with original soundtracks, the cultural archetypes shown in “The Origin of Korea” meet with a brush, the formative motif of LOTTE WORLD TOWER’s design. This highlights the process in which Korea’s cultural symbols are recreated in a contemporary way. Furthermore, information for enjoying Seoul Sky and greetings in a wide range of languages are provided to offer visitors a warm welcome.