Seoul City Unveils Drafts for 'Apartment Landscape Innovation' at 2 Sites... 18 More to Follow This Year

Aerial perspective of the urban and architectural innovation pilot project at Sanggye Jugong Complex 5, Nowon-gu, Seoul

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Seoul City announced on the 25th that it has completed the preliminary designs for 2 out of 4 pilot sites for the 'Urban and Architectural Innovation' project. This project has been underway since March last year with the goal of creating creative new landscapes in place of the monotonous apartment complexes.

The sites for which the drafts were released this time are the reconstruction of Sangye Jugong Complex 5 in Nowon-gu and the redevelopment project around 1 Geumho-dong 3-ga in Seongdong-gu. These projects involved dozens of discussions by teams composed of city and district departments, public planning advisory groups, and public architects. During this process, various opinions from maintenance associations and local residents were also incorporated into the basic plan.

Sangye Jugong Complex 5 will transform from a large-scale apartment complex isolated like an island within the city and closed off from its surroundings into an open residential complex that communicates with the local community. It will introduce building-integrated photovoltaics and electric vehicle-only parking lots, becoming the first private reconstruction project to be developed as an ‘eco-friendly zero-energy’ complex.

The area around 1 Geumho-dong 3-ga, located on the slopes of Eungbongsan along the Han River, will adopt architectural designs that conform to the hilly terrain centered on pedestrian green corridors. A new mode of transportation, an inclined elevator, will be installed on the steep stairway connecting to Geumnam Market. This site is the last remaining redevelopment area in the Geumho-dong vicinity. Unlike the uniform high-rise apartments built through redevelopment since the 1990s in this area, which was once a shantytown, innovative designs that differentiate the project are required.

Seoul City expects to complete the maintenance planning procedures within this year since both projects have established basic plans considering public interest and business feasibility together through collaboration among the city, experts, and residents. Furthermore, the city plans to take full responsibility to ensure that the basic plans are consistently maintained from planning through actual project implementation and completion.

This year, Seoul City will select more than 18 additional project sites to actively promote urban and architectural innovation. In the first half of this year, five new project sites have already been selected. The target sites are ▲Ogeum Hyundai Apartment ▲Area around 397-419 Cheonho-dong ▲Sillim 1 District ▲Euljiro 3-ga District 6 Zone ▲Wangsimni Station area. Seoul City plans to select project sites and promote projects considering factors such as regional balanced development, revitalization of station areas, protection of downtown industries, and management of large-scale apartment complexes, as well as the potential for linkage with major policies and projects currently being pursued by the city.

Jin Heeseon, Deputy Mayor of Administration 2 of Seoul City, said, "Urban and architectural innovation is significant in that the public sector has proactively realized achievable ideals," adding, "We will do our best to apply urban and architectural innovation measures to all future maintenance projects to bring about change and innovation in Seoul’s apartment culture."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.