Metapolis

Hwaseong’s City within a City

In 2006, a major mixed-use “city within a city” development was underway to help position Hwaseong, South Korea as an important commercial hub for the region. The 3-million-square-foot complex consists of one commercial and four residential high rises, a hotel, and a plaza with retail and community facilities. The tallest of the four residential towers – the 66-story Metapolis 101 - is the tallest building in Hwaseong and one of the country’s tallest buildings.

We provided structural design services to Kunwon for the project, which was completed in 2010.

Highlights

• A significant engineering challenge was meeting both safety and serviceability requirements—controlling overall building drift and wind-induced accelerations at higher floors—to conform to Korean building codes.
• Our team developed a lateral load-resisting system consisting of a reinforced concrete core and a perimeter belt wall, providing overall building stiffness efficiently and economically.
• Half of the perimeter opens and the other half is solid half beam and column.
• The tower features four levels of underground parking, and the foundation is a three-meter mat foundation supported on piles.