Shinsegae's in Daejeon
What: Shinsegae recently opened a new department store in Daejeon, a sizeable city and hi-tech hub in the middle of the country.
Why it is important: Situated right next to Expo Park, the so-called Shinsegae Daejeon Art & Science department store is a multi-story department store that indulges shoppers with a new retail concept that blends retail with culture, art, and science, but also comes with a branded 171-room hotel which occupies several floors of the soaring Expo Tower.
The company tapped New York City-based architecture and design practice Jeffrey Hutchison & Associates to design the store's ground and first floors. Measuring a whopping total of 120,000 sq. ft. (11,148 sqm.), the premises feature a 'modern Italian villa' design theme.
The retail concept's art and science bit comes in the form of The Art Space 193, a 193-metre-high observatory which also features artist Ólafur Elíasson's colourful installation The Living Observatory, in addition to Shinsegae Nexperium, a science museum focusing on robots, biotechnology, and space, and Daejeon Expo Aquarium, a media art combined aquarium, featuring a 4,200-ton tank filled with approx. 20,000 fish of 250 different species.