| Boutique Monaco | |
| Coordinates: | 37.4973°N 127.0247°W |
| Address: | 397, Seocho-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul |
| Years Built: | 2008 |
| Est Completion: | --> |
| Destruction Date: | --> |
| Floor Count: | 27 |
| Architect: | Minsuk Cho |
| Architecture Firm: | Mass Studies |
| Main Contractor: | GS E&C |
| References: | [1] |
Boutique Monaco is a 117-metre, 27-storey residential skyscraper in the ward of Seocho-gu in Seoul. The 172-unit residential tower was developed by Bumwoo Co., Ltd. and designed by Minsuk Cho as the working title of "Missing Matrix".[2] The lower five floors are retail and commercial facilities, and the officetel, a type of studio apartment in Korea, sits on the upper floors.[3]
Boutique Monaco was the recipient of the 2008 Silver Emporis Skyscraper Award, beating the much taller 101-story Shanghai World Financial Center.[4] It was awarded the prize for housing in the Seoul Architecture Award 2009.[5]
Boutique Monaco is known for its daring design, which includes several recesses that give the building a unique appearance. The 15 "missing spaces" were intentionally left empty to comply with the floor area ratio limit of the site. If the building had been designed as a simple vertical square, it would have exceeded the ratio limit by 10 percent. It met the restriction by removing the chunks from the building.[6]
In addition to addressing the limitation, the 15 voids provide micro-environments on the high-rise building. Each void contains a "sky garden" that can be overlooked from the resident's balcony. Cho intended to combat the high tower's lack of human interaction by injecting more human qualities.[3]