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Hanwha General Insurance Training Center
Hanwha General Insurance Training Center
Chungju-si, South Korea
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Other Projects by AI Architects
Hanwha General Insurance Training Center
Chungju-si, South Korea
“Learning in Nature”
- Site
Climbing a winding path through dense forest, one arrives at a hilltop landscape embraced by mountain ridges like a folding screen, with layers of old trees forming a thick woodland. The project began with the goal of respecting this environment of panoramic views that stretch from Suanbo into the surrounding mountains, while minimizing any damage to the existing natural setting.
- Access Planning
The steep and narrow original road was reassigned as a service route, making it necessary to design a new approach. Rather than seeking the shortest distance, the new entry sequence was planned to follow the most gradual slope, allowing visitors to experience a variety of changing forest scenes along the way. The road was aligned to preserve the natural terrain as much as possible.
- Site Layout
Balancing the required building program with the preservation of the topography was the central design challenge. To avoid unnecessary cut-and-fill, the building volumes were placed at different levels following the slope. Existing bungalows and surrounding trees were carefully preserved. The scheme also explored multiple strategies for harmonizing with nature: a central courtyard garden was introduced to bring light, wind, and seasonal changes into the core, while natural daylighting was maximized. The placement of the old bungalows—previously aligned to capture views toward the distant Suanbo mountains—inspired the overall siting, resulting in a plan that follows the contours as if the buildings had always belonged to the hillside.
The main educational facilities were arranged in clusters according to the natural terrain and tree lines, creating an atmosphere of learning within a rich landscape. The Grand Hall, the largest and most public program, was set independently on the widest flat ground to maximize functionality. One of the design’s highlights is the way the northwestern green belt extends deep into the building footprint, inserting pockets of landscape between volumes. These green interstices provide privacy, soften boundaries, and allow circulation to feel like walking through nature.
- Mass & Program
Situated high on a hill above Suanbo, the site had the potential for the building mass to appear overwhelming. To mitigate this, the accommodation wings were set back into the slope, while lower volumes were placed at the ridge’s edge. The education cluster, located at the hill’s end, was expressed in timber gabled forms that echo the surrounding mountains, with exposed wooden trusses creating lofty interiors that enhance the quality of learning spaces. Programs such as the Grand Hall, large and medium lecture rooms, small classrooms, and residences required diverse scales of volume. Rather than concentrating them in a single block, they were distributed across the terrain, with each volume placed where it could best harmonize with the landscape, establishing a carefully balanced density between nature and built form.
- Materials & Patterns
At the podium level, where the building meets the ground, stone and block were used to convey solidity and durability, with emphasis on long-term maintenance. The tower elements were treated to visually recede, blending with the surrounding nature rather than standing out. To reinterpret the irregularity of natural patterns in a buildable and waste-free system, a new kind of order was paradoxically established. After extensive mock-ups, custom tiles were developed in three colors and three sizes, arranged to evoke the textures of the natural landscape.
- Site
Climbing a winding path through dense forest, one arrives at a hilltop landscape embraced by mountain ridges like a folding screen, with layers of old trees forming a thick woodland. The project began with the goal of respecting this environment of panoramic views that stretch from Suanbo into the surrounding mountains, while minimizing any damage to the existing natural setting.
- Access Planning
The steep and narrow original road was reassigned as a service route, making it necessary to design a new approach. Rather than seeking the shortest distance, the new entry sequence was planned to follow the most gradual slope, allowing visitors to experience a variety of changing forest scenes along the way. The road was aligned to preserve the natural terrain as much as possible.
- Site Layout
Balancing the required building program with the preservation of the topography was the central design challenge. To avoid unnecessary cut-and-fill, the building volumes were placed at different levels following the slope. Existing bungalows and surrounding trees were carefully preserved. The scheme also explored multiple strategies for harmonizing with nature: a central courtyard garden was introduced to bring light, wind, and seasonal changes into the core, while natural daylighting was maximized. The placement of the old bungalows—previously aligned to capture views toward the distant Suanbo mountains—inspired the overall siting, resulting in a plan that follows the contours as if the buildings had always belonged to the hillside.
The main educational facilities were arranged in clusters according to the natural terrain and tree lines, creating an atmosphere of learning within a rich landscape. The Grand Hall, the largest and most public program, was set independently on the widest flat ground to maximize functionality. One of the design’s highlights is the way the northwestern green belt extends deep into the building footprint, inserting pockets of landscape between volumes. These green interstices provide privacy, soften boundaries, and allow circulation to feel like walking through nature.
- Mass & Program
Situated high on a hill above Suanbo, the site had the potential for the building mass to appear overwhelming. To mitigate this, the accommodation wings were set back into the slope, while lower volumes were placed at the ridge’s edge. The education cluster, located at the hill’s end, was expressed in timber gabled forms that echo the surrounding mountains, with exposed wooden trusses creating lofty interiors that enhance the quality of learning spaces. Programs such as the Grand Hall, large and medium lecture rooms, small classrooms, and residences required diverse scales of volume. Rather than concentrating them in a single block, they were distributed across the terrain, with each volume placed where it could best harmonize with the landscape, establishing a carefully balanced density between nature and built form.
- Materials & Patterns
At the podium level, where the building meets the ground, stone and block were used to convey solidity and durability, with emphasis on long-term maintenance. The tower elements were treated to visually recede, blending with the surrounding nature rather than standing out. To reinterpret the irregularity of natural patterns in a buildable and waste-free system, a new kind of order was paradoxically established. After extensive mock-ups, custom tiles were developed in three colors and three sizes, arranged to evoke the textures of the natural landscape.
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