HOK New York has Green Designs in Korea

The New York office of HOK, one of the world’s leading architecture and urban design firms, has unveiled the design for its latest commercial office building in Songdo International Business District, Incheon, South Korea.

The new 55,000-square-foot, five-story Gale International/U-Life Northeast Asia headquarters building, aiming to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum criteria, will be the first of its kind in Korea, according to a press release from HOK.

The U-Life complex project will be an example of sustainable design for both Songdo IBD and Korea. Located on the south side of the park, the new U-Life complex is expected to open in the summer of 2009.

Planned to house Gale International’s new headquarters in Korea, a portion of the building and the site will be devoted to an extensive public exhibit area showcasing cutting-edge building materials, systems and technologies from Untied Technologies Corp. The entire Songdo IBD was recently named a green urbanism pilot project by the USGBC.

The building is designed to include raingardens, native landscaping, solar electric automobile charging stations, full daylight office space, optimized natural ventilation, green roofs and rooftop wind turbines, among other features.

The district is built on 1,500 acres of reclaimed land along the Yellow Sea. More information is available at www.hok.com and www.usgbc.org.