Hankook Tire Technodome

To continue their drive to become the top tire brand in the world, Hankook Tire recently finished construction on the first high-tech R&D campus in Korea. Designed to be a growth engine for Hankook Tire through innovation, it made possible meaningful collaboration and rapid prototyping between various segments of the company. State-of-the-art manufacturing and testing facilities are now easily accessible for researchers and designers to test radical ideas and processes, only steps away from their office.

To develop a wayfinding solution to guide users across multiple floors in this massive space, the design team had to develop and define a set of predictive destinations, much like predictive searches used in popular internet search engines. Listing all possible major destinations would clutter signage and discourage users from scanning long lists of text, so the team employed a system of landmarks by strategically presenting common areas, meeting rooms and easily recognizable departments located at the furthest sectors. This allows users to navigate the space using a kind of proximity navigation, which is a highly effective tool for understanding complex spaces difficult to verbally describe. Further, the team designed directional arrows to resemble tire treads and roadway curve warnings to direct employees in an industry familiar and relevant way.

The signage solution mimics the futuristic look and feel of the facility through the use of translucent white acrylic panels for freestanding signage. Laser-cut vinyl graphics were strategically applied to glass walls where the architectural design elements became the frame and the backdrop at the same time, preserving the transparency of the glass walls while increasing signage recognition. To minimize the impact of added signage to the facility, existing lines and the same building materials were used as much as possible to frame and position signage in a way that complemented the space.

Design Team

Jangwon Ahn (principal in charge); Dongchan Seo (chief graphic designer); Daeho Kim (chief environmental designer); Songyul Park, Eunji Kim, Garam Kim, Junyoung Woo, Naeun Han, Minkyung Kang (graphic designers); Haejin Cho (environmental designer)

Project Area

1,036,866 sq ft

Project Budget

$350,000

Fabricators

Cheil Advertising Sign and Design (fabrication, Installation)