New Busan Tower, Busan, South Korea, Detail

This unbuilt competition entry for an observation tower in Busan, Korea, combines several avenues of theoretical inquiry central to the work of the Los Angeles–based architecture practice Patterns. In order to express a “vitalist and frenetic idea of movement,” the architects chose to move away from symmetry and the vertical segregation of different programs in multiuse towers. Instead, a looser, “incessant” affiliation of spaces and circulation promotes activity in sequential, yet singular events. The design of the tower was also determined by aerodynamics, resulting in long bunching and braiding volumes and vertical apertures to create a flowing space on the interior and wind “turbulence” on the facade.