CJ Blossom Park

CannonDesign · Suwon, South Korea

CJ Blossom Park is the research and development headquarters for CJ Corporation, one of South Korea’s largest companies.  CannonDesign’s Yazdani Studio took the form from CJ’s three-petal logo, giving each division its own elliptical tower, one for biotech, one for food, as well as one for pharma, all wrapped in a perforated metal skin that softens the light coming in.  The towers meet around a multi-story atrium, where sweeping stairs and curving balconies bring researchers from every group together under a single skylight.  Throughout the building there are nearly fifty kinds of spaces meant to give people a break from focused work, from cafés and lounges to a moss-covered “living forest” rising through two floors.  We spent seven days photographing more than a million square feet of some of the most curvaceous design I’ve ever set a lens on, with two setups running at once as well as a third camera for the small vignettes I found along the way.  In 2018, R&D Magazine named it the best new laboratory in the world.

CJ Blossom Park's tallest elliptical tower at sunset, its perforated metal bands glowing against a clear blue sky, with two lower towers behind
Curving perforated facade bands of CJ Blossom Park lit gold at sunset above the glass entrance and circular drive
Perforated metal skin of CJ Blossom Park curving over a glass-walled meeting room at dusk
CJ Blossom Park lobby with the illuminated CJ logo, reception desk and a sweeping white stair rising through an oval opening in the ceiling
Multi-story atrium at CJ Blossom Park beneath a triangulated glass skylight, with curving white balconies and a spiral stair
Curved wood slat walls and a glass railing in the CJ Blossom Park atrium, seen from above
Looking down on spiraling white stairs and glass railings in the CJ Blossom Park atrium, with red and white lounge seating below
People walking past a wall of elevators framed in curved wood slats beneath white balconies at CJ Blossom Park
Cast glass water wall set into a curved wood slat wall beneath sweeping white balconies at CJ Blossom Park
Globe pendant lights hanging among red acoustic ceiling shapes at CJ Blossom Park
Ground floor café at CJ Blossom Park with red ceiling sculptures over white tables, glass walls and a curving white stair
Two people climbing a white stair in front of a glowing glass wall framed in wood slats at CJ Blossom Park
Employee dining hall at CJ Blossom Park with a yellow banquette under a curved wood slat wall and floor-to-ceiling glass
Elevator lobby at CJ Blossom Park with glowing yellow elevator doors opposite a wall of blue cast glass
Living forest at CJ Blossom Park, a moss-covered column spreading across the floor beside tall windows and a spiral stair
Looking up into a white spiral stair with a green glass railing at CJ Blossom Park
Blue mosaic-tiled column rising from a reflecting pool beside a spiral stair in the water garden at CJ Blossom Park
Library and study area at CJ Blossom Park with yellow lounge chairs and blue fabric-wrapped study carrels
Two researchers at a meeting table beside a sculpted white slat wall at CJ Blossom Park, with the moss column visible beyond
Teaching kitchen at CJ Blossom Park with a curving wood counter, stools and a wall of windows
Triangulated skylight above curving white balconies in the CJ Blossom Park atrium