Modern urban plaza with water feature, surrounded by tall glass and concrete skyscrapers, trees, and a wooden pergola structure.

First World Towers
Incheon, South Korea

Size
3,700,000 sf total, 2,654 units total
Architect
KPF, Kunwon
Role
Project Architect at KPF (Mid-Rise Towers)
Photography
KPF, Jaesung
Distinctions
* AIA National: Housing Design Award
* AIA New York: Housing Design Award
* AIA New York: International Design Award
* Korea Architecture Award

The main architectural goal for the first residential project in Songdo International Business District (New Songdo City) was to rethink the traditional idea of the superblock—not as a single, uniform housing complex, but as a collection of unique, smaller communities. This was achieved by varying building heights in a non-linear way.

In contemporary Korean cities, superblocks and residential towers are the standard models for urban living and planning, heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s Radiant City concept, which has been widely adopted across the country. KPF designed the First World Towers based on an understanding of Korea’s social structure. The development includes four courtyard-based communities, each divided into three smaller neighborhoods of around 200 households.

Traditional Korean architecture also shaped the project’s layout. Movement through palaces and gardens in historic Korea often involves changing directions and offset pathways. This idea was reflected in the design to soften the overwhelming vertical scale typical of high-rise buildings. Irregular surface lines and fragmented window patterns help reduce the visual impact of height. Additionally, architectural features like large openings, arcades, and pavilion structures bring the building scale down to a more human, approachable level.

Modern high-rise office buildings with glass windows and structured facades surrounding a small landscaped park with trees, a water feature, and walkways.
Architectural floor plan of a large apartment complex or campus with multiple buildings, pathways, water features, and landscaped areas, color-coded sections indicating different buildings or zones.
Tall modern skyscraper with a unique grid-like window pattern, surrounded by other high-rise buildings in an urban area, blue sky with wispy clouds overhead.
A collection of 64 different black-and-white abstract geometric patterns arranged in an 8x8 grid, showcasing various designs with squares, rectangles, lines, and grids.
Photo of a cityscape showing modern glass high-rise buildings under a blue sky, with construction and development sites at the lower part of the image.
Close-up view of a modern city building with beige-colored exterior walls and dark blue glass windows arranged in a grid pattern.
Modern office buildings with large glass windows and a grassy walkway with a grid pattern, surrounded by trees under a partly cloudy sky.
A detailed architectural site plan showing building layout, outdoor walkways, landscaping, water features, parking spaces, and various zones labeled for different purposes.
A park scene with tall modern skyscrapers in the background, a pond with a fountain, green trees, and a wooden bridge in the foreground.

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