Malpyo Factory by Urbantainer

Designed by Urbantainer. This project is the new Malpyo's Headquater that was built with shipping containers.

Architect: Urbantainer
Location: Hagun-ri, Yangchon-eup, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Year: 2017
Architecture design: Jiwon Baik, Jungsic Kwon, Jihae Ock
Interior design: Donhee Yoon, Dongwook Kim
Area: 4,797.07 sqm
Photographs: Seungbok Lee

Project's description: Malpyo, a family business with a long history spanning over three generations, is expanding into  the cosmetics sector. URBANTAINER’s mission is to capture the spirit of the company’s transition to a modern and trend-oriented brand with the new company headquarter. The starting point for the design concept was to overcome the literal notion of a factory as a place of production by creating a space that symbolically carries the energy of the company’s new brand identity, by effectively utilising shipping containers in emotion-evoking colours.

Malpyo’s new headquarter consists of two parts, the office area and the production facilities. In order to create an efficiently built space with a unique character, the office area was built with shipping containers. Due to its large scale, the production facilities are based on a steel-frame structure, coated by container skin. What makes this building unique is the arrangement of the two parts–the office area is angled as if it diagonally protruded from he the production hall.

Before the redesign, the factory was a typical production, completely shielded to the outside world, and with a clear separation between office space and production area. In this setup, machinery served the sole purpose of manufacturing goods. An important part of URBANTAINER’s design strategy is aimed at breaking up this dichotomy. The separating wall between the office and production areas is made of glass and provides a transparent view from the office to the factory and vice versa. The machinery now becomes part of the interior design of the space. All procedures that make up the heart of the factory, from manufacturing to logistics, are made visible and become a crucial part of communicating the brand essence to visitors.

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