CJ Blossom Park in Suwon, South Korea has won R&D Magazine's prestigious Lab of the Year Award. The award is the world's most prestigious honor for research environments, recognizing excellence in laboratory design, planning, engineering and construction.
The 1.2 million sf research and development headquarters for CJ Corporation repositions the company's operations into a new interdisciplinary format that increases efficiency, creates a culture of integrated innovation and accelerates speed-to-market. Conceived as "The Only One," the building consolidates CJ Corporation's previously disparate pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and food products businesses into a single location, enabling it to create industry-defining product strategies and increase its global competitiveness.
The design of CJ Blossom Park is founded on CannonDesign's "New Scientific Workplace" concept — a radical design approach that replaces traditional laboratory planning ideas with integrated innovation strategies to create dynamic, boundary-less environments that increase productivity, efficiency and creativity. Outside of the laboratory environments, the building includes nearly 50 different types of space that respond to different types of human behaviors — from cafes and coffee shops to lounges, fitness areas, sleeping pods and even an interior living forest. This broad spectrum of space helps people who are doing very intensive, focused work have moments of balance in their lives so they can push discoveries and progress forward without getting burned out.
The building's architecture is inspired by CJ's brand identity, which is defined by a three-petal blossom that represents a "better life" of happiness, enjoyment and convenience. Each of the three towers rise around a central atrium that cultivates interconnectivity and engagement with fluid circulation filled with natural sunlight. The exterior of the building is wrapped in an outer-pleated perforated screen system that allowed the team to place full-height glazing around the entire perimeter of the building without negatively impacting thermal performance.
"We are proud to have brought our client's vision of the 'Only One' to life with an incredibly innovative laboratory workplace environment," said Mehrdad Yazdani, design director of the Yazdani Studio at CannonDesign. "Our integrated team of expert lab planners, designers, engineers and architects should be commended for a job well done."
MaryBeth DiDonna, editor of Laboratory Design, stated, "Laboratory Design, R&D, and our judging panel are pleased to recognize CJ Blossom Park as the 2018 Laboratory of the Year Award winner, in recognition of its grand identity, its approach to worker mentality, and its sustainability efforts."
This is the second Lab of the Year honors CannonDesign has amassed in the last two years; in 2017, the Novartis Institutes BioMedical Research (NIBR) Cambridge Campus was awarded Special Recognition for Innovative Systems
More about CannonDesign
CannonDesign is an integrated global design firm that unites a dynamic team of architects, engineers, interior designers, strategists and industry specialists to help clients leverage design to solve challenges and achieve successful futures. Its more than 1,000 employees in 24 offices partner with clients across a multitude of industries including science + technology, healthcare, education, commercial, civic and sports. In 2017, Fast Company named CannonDesign one of the 10 most innovative architecture companies in the world.
