VOL.37 · February 28 · 2018
Trip
A New Beat to Awaken Your Sensibility
BEAT 360
A new composite cultural space that will awaken your sensibility has been created at the center of Seoul's downtown: 'BEAT 360' a brand experience space of KIA Motors. This is not like the conventional brand name promotion space for advertising products, but a brand experience space based on virtual reality (VR) and hologram technologies and a cultural space housing numerous exhibitions and performances. This inspiring space serves as a new standard for public relations halls. Enjoy the pleasure of imagination and inspiration from various brand contents, cultural events, and IT.
01
Cultural Space of Artistic Sensibility with Fragrant Teas
BEAT 360, the first brand experience space of KIA Motors, was prepared with the motivation of giving fresh inspiration and heartfelt impressions. The brand essence of KIA Motors, ‘A Different Beat,’ was expressed with rhythmical flows and dynamic beats. Even the appearance of the building is very unique to inspire you with brilliant ideas. The wood-like modules are extended from the exterior walls of the building to the inside as naturally as flowing water. This is based on 'Digital Fabrication,' one of the latest design methods, and a total of
7,553 independent modules were used for the design with the motif of expressing the air flow surrounding a running car. Interestingly, you will see different patterns created by the modules depending on the viewing angles and the time of the day.
Now, let's go inside. Diverse exhibition spaces extend along a circular track. Unique spaces with the themes of cafe, garden, and salon are connected with each other in one circular track. You will be first welcomed by 'Smith Tea Cafe' where the delicate fragrance of teas gently awakens your heart. At one corner of the cafe is an exhibition of illustration works created through collaboration with KIA Motors. The space, called 'Atelier,' introduces new artists and supports their various artistic activities. Many tablet PCs are installed behind the cafe. You may view the introduction of BEAT 360, lifestyle and driving course contents, and KIA Motors magazines by using the tablets.
The lounge is a cultural space devoted to various cultural events that are held each month, including musical concerts. You can find a media wall screen on the rear side of the lounge. The BEAT 360 tags on SNS are updated on the screen on a real-time basis. VR technology is a popular item in the space, because it's both fun and educational. The automobile products are not simply displayed but interestingly introduced through VR technology. Sit on a moving chair and wear the VR device. You will continuously shout excitedly as if you were riding in an actual vehicle.
02
Healing Space for Your Heart
Is there a garden downtown that you can reach anytime? BEAT 360 proudly presents the "Garden" space to you. The garden is just outside the cafe. The inside and the outside are connected by one track in natural harmony. What a petite healing space in the concrete jungle! You can also enjoy rest in the terrace zone on a birch deck.
The base camp in the space is particularly popular among children. Gardening products are also on sale for those who want to feel small pleasures from nature. Aprons, basil and chamomile seeds, and air-filtering plants are on sale not as interior design items but as the products for a new lifestyle. The small outdoor garden is fully enjoyed by children freely playing. Anybody, young and old, men and women, can enjoy a happy time as the space was designed considering people of all age groups. Another base camp is where the bare skin of a car is exposed. Parts of a car are displayed on the wall in the configuration of a car by using the products from automobile customizing brands.
One special thing in this space is hologram contents, the world's first mediated reality contents for vehicle experiences. When you wear the advanced digital device, HoloLens, a digital docent appears and introduces the essential features of each car. Look at the bonnet of the car in front of you, and you will see an interesting video displayed in the air. The hologram on a real car will make you feel as if you were inside a movie, crossing the boundary between the virtual world and the real world.
03
For All Visitors to Feel Premium Lifestyle
Passing the garden, let's go inside the building. You see a luxurious space, which is a premium lifestyle lounge, the "salon" space. Your eyes and mouth were happy when you were in the cafe and the garden. Now it's time to please the ears. The Music Lounge in the salon space lets you listen through a tablet PC to music that is well matched with each of the KIA cars. Select a driving course you like among the courses featuring a great bridge, a seaside, and a city, and music well matched with the course will be recommended. Sit on a leather couch in the shape of the automobile seat and enjoy the high-end sound. Your heart is already running on the seaside roads. The salon space displays Stinger, KIA's luxury sedan. Stinger was first shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, and the concept car is now manufactured without significant modifications.
The last space in the salon is 'Surround Media Zone' where a video about KIA Motors' future vision is played on a large-scale wide screen interconnected with a turntable. You may actually get in an actual car on the turntable before the screen. As the turntable is turning with the video, the car is also turned around. The storyline is a father and a son driving a car to meet the Little Prince. In the unexpected situations and risk factors that they encounter while driving in the universe, the safety functions as well as the new automobile technologies are described. You can see the present and the future of automobiles as well as future potential. BEAT 360 is truly a place where customers can obtain fresh imagination and inspiration through experiences. Like the motto of BEAT 360, which is making our life more colorful with fresh inspiration and heartfelt impressions, you will have an awakened heartbeat again at BEAT 360.
