beck group + gansam: super mega underground church

‘super mega underground church’ by beck group + gansam, seoul, south korea images courtesy of beck group

U.S. based architectural practice beck group and seoul-based firm gansam have collaborated to propose ‘super mega underground church’, a spiritual facility for the city of seoul, south korea. this urban site must accommodate over 40,000 people every sunday, the majority of whom arrive by subway. the design called for a 6,500 seat worship sanctuary, offices for the church’s global ministry, a 300 seat chapel, fellowship / classroom spaces, 250 parking spaces and a public plaza.

the design solution features the worship sanctuary underground, covered only by the public plaza, and sky above.

flanking the worship center on the north and south, the remaining program is projected upwards into two towers that are unified at three levels with a sky bridge. to give further emphasis on the sky above, the massing of the two towers and sky bridge is extruded at an angle about the elliptical plaza, and wrapped in clear vision glass to give unobstructed views inside and out.

interior views surrounding sanctuary

interior views of subway connection

interior views of education tower

site plan

section

aerial view / site section

cutaway plans

circulation diagrams

sunscreen analysis

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