Louverwall

The site is located in the newly developed mixed-use building district in Paju, South Korea. Clients want the café space to be transparent, and dynamic. They also need a small residence on the 2ndand3rdfloors for themselves. The plot is surrounded by other buildings on its three sides; it is only open toward due west. Thus, the main challenge of the project is to come up with the west façade that is energy efficient and transparent. As the south side is blocked by another building, we can only have clerestory. The clerestory of the south side continues to the west creating the curtainwall facade. Inside the envelope, the two massive curved walls are formed to bring in natural daylight deep into the ground floor year round. The light that changes every minute touches the interior surfaces. Every movement of the clouds, the sun, as well as the changes of season is recorded on the walls. The curtainwall façade is combined with the louvers for the building performance. The louvers are designed to block the summer sun, and to bring in the heat of the winter sun.