Innovative Designs for Seonyudo and Cheongdam... Seoul City Selects 18 Private Candidate Sites

Seoul City announced on the 22nd that it has selected 18 candidate sites for the public contest related to the ‘Urban?Architecture Creative?Innovation Design Pilot Project,’ which is being promoted to revitalize innovation in urban architectural design in the private sector.

The complex facility 'Seonyudowon' in Yangpyeong-dong 4-ga, Yeongdeungpo-gu, selected as a pilot project site for innovative design [Photo provided by Seoul City]

The candidate sites are categorized into ‘selected’ and ‘selected with need for improvement’ based on the completeness of the creative innovation design and whether the proposal requires supplementation. Among the 18 candidate sites selected this time, 10 are ‘selected’ and 8 are ‘selected with need for improvement.’

Major candidate sites selected this time include ‘Seonyudowon’ (Yangpyeong-dong 4-ga, Yeongdeungpo-gu), ‘Terrarium Cheongdam’ (Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu), ‘Dohwaseo-gil Office Facility’ (Susong-dong, Jongno-gu), and ‘Samseong-dong Bookmark’ (Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu). These names are those given by the private developers of the sites. Seonyudowon was recognized for design elements such as vertical natural features (green terraces) penetrating the exterior, open low-rise spaces, and a digital canvas through LED displays.

Terrarium Cheongdam was acknowledged for its potential for original design development, including various public open spaces on the lower levels and a sky garden on the mid-level. Dohwaseo-gil Office Facility was recognized for its exterior design that considers the subtle texture of white porcelain and the traditional historical context of the surrounding area, as well as the public nature of the sky gallery on the upper floors. In the case of Samseong-dong Bookmark, the public nature was acknowledged through the integration of original design on a small site, featuring a panoramic elevator that connects directly from the exterior to the rooftop public viewing space and a public pedestrian passage on the first floor that passes through the building.

To ensure fairness and proper evaluation of the subjective urban architectural design, the city separately organized the Urban Architecture Design Innovation Committee as the selection committee. Chaired by Kang Byung-geun, Seoul’s Chief Architect, the selection committee consists of seven members: three officials including heads of departments overseeing Seoul’s urban and architectural affairs, and three external expert members currently active in various committees.

The evaluation focused on various factors considering that the proposals lacked specific architectural plans (height, floor area ratio, usage, etc.) and design drawings. These factors included the site’s locational characteristics, design concept, symbolism, whether it was an innovative design and its potential for development, and the project’s ripple effect. Specifically, the appropriateness of the proposals was assessed based on 29 items from the emotional design guidelines and 7 items from the innovation design guidelines.

Based on the proposals selected as first-round candidates, the city plans to hold two joint public-private workshops to share the direction of Seoul’s creative innovation design policy and to concretize planning proposals for applying innovative design. The first joint workshop is scheduled for the 4th of next month, and the second for the 26th.

After the workshops, a planning design proposal for selecting the design pilot project will be submitted, and the selection committee will decide on the final selection. If selected as a design pilot project, various incentives such as floor area ratio relaxation, exemption from building coverage ratio, expedited administrative support, and project promotion consultation will be provided.

Gangnam-gu Yeoksam-dong Complex Development Project Selected as a Pilot Project for Innovative Design [Photo provided by Seoul City]

Earlier, Seoul City prepared this contest to promote a design innovation project targeting private sector buildings as part of the ‘Seoul Urban and Architectural Design Innovation.’ Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced in February the ‘Seoul Urban and Architectural Design Innovation Plan,’ stating that various design innovation pilot projects covering both public and private sectors would be promoted to induce and spread urban and architectural innovative design.

Kang Byung-geun, Seoul’s Chief Architect and chairperson of the Urban Architecture Design Innovation Committee, commented on the evaluation, saying, “Considering that this was a proposal evaluation, we focused not only on the current level of creative innovation design but also on the potential for future development of innovative design.”

Seoul City stated that after this contest, it will promptly proceed in the second half of the year with various measures such as additional contests or rolling submissions to revitalize design innovation in the private sector, and expanding the scope of projects to include those previously excluded, such as redevelopment projects.

Hong Seon-gi, Director of Future Space Planning at Seoul City, said, “We hope that the design innovation pilot project, which is being implemented for the first time in the private sector, will serve as an opportunity to elevate the status of architects and transform the face of Seoul,” adding, “We will do our best to ensure that the design innovation pilot project proceeds smoothly from the workshops and site selection to project implementation.”

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