White Box_D.LIM Architects has designed the exterior façade and interior remodeling for the H&M special store in Seoul. The building is located in Garosu-gil, a famous hot place of the southern side of Seoul. The design is based on the H&M's global standard however, D.LIM Architects has input their own imagination on the facade with U-shaped glass curtain walls. The translucent glasses are vertically hung over the existing 40 year old building. H&M stores are almost identical anywhere in the world based on their manuals. But, D.LIM has specially chosen the U-shaped glass(low iron) for the H&M Garosu-gil in order to express the ‘White’ and 'Crisp' brand image. The simple white façade also makes the positive cityscape on the typical commercial street. The Garosu-gil is a commercial street with a number of SPA brand shops. The street is full of colorful buildings resplendent with flashy neon signs. H&M Garosu-gil is characterized by the aesthetics of simplicity by the shape and style of the building. Except the first floor, the entire building was clad with almost colorless skins. During the day, the building is embedded around contexts with its impassive appearance. But, it rather attracts public gaze among the buildings armed with flamboyant styles, as if a black and white figure in the color picture. At night, it lights one color without any motion. It seems like the stills in the video. The monochromatic simplicity is a paradoxical way to survive in the complex competing commercial landscape.
