Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, together with the local Studio GANSAM Architects & Partners has designed the complex.
MVRDV has completed construction on The Imprint, a new 2-building art-entertainment complex in close proximity to Seoul’s Incheon Airport. Featuring a nightclub in one building and indoor theme park in the other, the windowless structures feature three key design elements: imprints of the façade features of surrounding buildings, lifted entrances, and a golden entrance spot covering one corner of the nightclub building.
Description of project by MVRDV
MVRDV’s The Imprint is part of the larger Paradise City complex of 6 buildings in total, which will provide a full suite of entertainment and hotel attractions less than a kilometre away from South Korea’s largest airport. Given the proposed programme of the 2 buildings – a nightclub and indoor theme park – the client required a design with no windows, yet one that still integrated with the other buildings in the complex. The design of The Imprint therefore arises from a simple question: can we design an expressive façade that connects with its surroundings even though it has no windows?
The design achieves this by projecting the façades of the surrounding buildings in the complex, which are ‘draped’ over the simple building forms and plazas like a shadow, and ‘imprinted’ as a relief pattern onto the façades.
“By placing, as it were, surrounding buildings into the facades of our buildings and in the central plaza, we connect The Imprint with the neighbours,” says Winy Maas, principal and co-founder of MVRDV. “This ensures coherence. Paradise City is not a collection of individual objects such as Las Vegas, but a real city.”
In order to achieve the desired ‘imprint’ of the surrounding buildings, the façade of The Imprint is constructed of glass-fibre reinforced concrete panels. As many of the 3,869 panels are unique, the construction required moulds to be individually produced using MVRDV’s 3D modelling files from the design phase. Once installed, these panels were painted white in order to emphasise the relief in the design.
As Winy Maas explains: “Two months ago most of the cladding was done and client said, ‘this is an art piece. What is interesting about that is that they are looking for that momentum—that entertainment can become art or that the building can become artistic in that way. What, then, is the difference between architecture an art? The project plays with that and I think that abstraction is part of it, but it has to surprise, seduce and it has to calm down.”
The entrances, where the façades are lifted like a curtain to reveal mirrored ceilings and glass media floors, exude a sense of the excitement happening inside. “Reflection and theatricality are therefore combined,” concludes Maas. “With our design, after the nightly escapades, a zen-like silence follows during the day, providing an almost literally reflective situation for the after parties. Giorgio de Chirico would have liked to paint it, I think."
More information
MVRDV is an architecture and urban planning practice founded in 1993 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by architects Winy Maas (Schijndel, 1959), Jacob van Rijs (Amsterdam, 1964), and Nathalie de Vries (Appingedam, 1965). All three studied at Delft University of Technology, graduating in 1990. Before establishing MVRDV, Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs worked at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), while Nathalie de Vries gained professional experience at Mecanoo.
Since its foundation, MVRDV has developed architectural, urban planning, and landscape projects of various scales and programmes, including residential buildings, cultural facilities, commercial spaces, offices, renovation projects, and urban masterplans. Its working methodology combines research and analysis of the social, economic, environmental, and spatial conditions of each project with a collaborative process involving clients, specialists, and professionals from different disciplines.
Its early completed projects, including the headquarters of Dutch public broadcaster VPRO in Hilversum (1997) and the WoZoCo housing complex for elderly residents in Amsterdam (1997), marked the beginning of its international recognition. These were followed by the Netherlands Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover, the Silodam residential building in Amsterdam (2002), the Mirador housing complex in Madrid (2005), and the Celosía residential development, also in Madrid (2009).
Subsequent projects include the Markthal market hall in Rotterdam (2014), Crystal Houses in Amsterdam (2016), Tianjin Binhai Library in China (2017), Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam (2021), and the Valley residential building in Amsterdam (2022). More recently, the practice has also undertaken the transformation of existing buildings, including the Pyramid of Tirana in Albania (2023) and the Shenzhen Women & Children's Centre in China (2023), as well as the Portlantis visitor centre in the Port of Rotterdam (2025).
MVRDV operates across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, with offices in Rotterdam, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, and New York. The practice currently employs more than 300 professionals, including architects, urban planners, and specialists from various disciplines. Alongside its three founders, the leadership team includes partners Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, and Bertrand Schippan.
Research and academic activities are also part of the practice's work. In 2008, Winy Maas founded The Why Factory, a research institute at Delft University of Technology dedicated to exploring possible scenarios for the future development of cities. Its activities include teaching programmes, research projects, publications, and exhibitions addressing architecture and urban planning.
MVRDV's projects have been featured in international exhibitions and publications and have received numerous awards in architecture and urban planning.
Published on:
September 22, 2018
Cite:
"MVRDV Completes The Imprint at Paradise City, a White-and-Gold Art-Entertainment Complex in Incheon" METALOCUS.
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