Prada’s Transformer Makes Seoul Debut

From AFP via Google News:

It looks like a giant tent pitched by aliens who landed overnight in the yard of one of Seoul’s ancient royal palaces.

Welcome to the Prada Transformer — billed as the world’s first shape-shifting building — which can be lifted and rotated into different configurations to house art, film, fashion and other events.

“It’s a kind of statement that architecture doesn’t always have to be heavy… stable and repetitive,” Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas told journalists at a preview Wednesday.

The structure, funded by the Prada Group, has four different shapes — a hexagon, cross, rectangle and circle. Construction cranes will lift and rotate the structure into different facades and floor plate configurations to create a new venue for each cultural event.

“When you rotate this building, its floor becomes walls and walls become the floor,” said Alexander Reichert, senior architect of the Dutch-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture.

Situated next to the 16th century Gyeonghui Palace in the busy South Korean capital, the Transformer is also a visible symbol of the contrast between modernity and tradition, he said.

Koolhaas said architecture must accommodate many different activities. “That is the essence of architecture,” he said.

“Waist Down - Skirts by Miuccia Prada” will make its Korean debut on April 25 at the Transformer, showcasing a collection of skirts by the Italian fashion powerhouse.

I am admittedly biased given that architecture and fashion are two of my favorite things ever, but on a scale of awesomeness from 1-10 I would have to rate the Prada Transformer a 23. As far as art forms go, architecture and fashion are remarkably similar given that they both combine functionality, basic human needs, and aesthetics, so in a way the Transformer is a logical next step.

It is probably freaking a few elderly citizens out, though.

Photo credit: AFP via Google