Apgujeong 3 District Faces Issues from Early Reconstruction Stage... Seoul City Declares "Heerim Architects Selection Invalid"

Selected Heerim Architects Amid Floor Area Ratio Violation Controversy on the 15th
Seoul City "Already Ordered to Stop the Contest"

The "largest redevelopment project," Apgujeong 3 District, ultimately selected Heerim Architects & Planners, which has been embroiled in controversy over violating Seoul city guidelines, as the architect. However, the city declared the decision "invalid" and put a stop to it. With the city holding the approval authority taking a tough stance, concerns are emerging that subsequent procedures may face disruptions.

According to the maintenance industry on the 16th, the Apgujeong 3 District redevelopment association selected the Heerim Architects & Planners consortium (Heerim Architecture) as the design firm at the general meeting held the previous day. Heerim received 1,507 votes, while Haean Architects received 1,069 votes, 438 fewer than Heerim Architecture. There were 115 abstentions and invalid votes.

Perspective view of Apgujeong District 3 proposed by Heerim Architects Consortium

However, Seoul city declared the voting results invalid on the 16th. A city official explained, "The competition itself was subject to disqualification, and we issued an order to stop it, but the association did not comply. Ultimately, it is invalid, and we consider that there is no architect." He added, "The district mayor (Gangnam District Mayor) will review whether there are any errors in the selection results and proceed with administrative processing. During this process, we will closely cooperate with the district office to ensure that the project proceeds according to the Rapid Integration Planning."

Apgujeong 3 District is a Seoul city Rapid Integration Planning project. The city has been involved from the early stages of redevelopment, creating a maintenance plan that combines business feasibility and public interest to support rapid project advancement. Recently, Seoul city announced a Rapid Integration Plan emphasizing the integrated redevelopment of Apgujeong Districts 2 to 5.

The controversy earlier centered on the proposal Heerim Architecture submitted for the Apgujeong 3 District redevelopment design competition. According to Seoul city, Heerim Architecture submitted a redevelopment plan with a floor area ratio (FAR) of 360% through eco-friendly incentives and without rental housing. This contradicts Seoul city’s Rapid Integration Maintenance Support Plan, which focuses on a FAR of 300% or less and social mix rental housing. However, Heerim Architecture argued that the upper limit could be raised by applying incentives and proceeded to persuade residents despite Seoul city’s opposition.

In response, Seoul city accused the two architectural firms forming the consortium of attempted fraud, obstruction of business, and bid-rigging, and reported them to the police on the 11th for violating architectural design competition guidelines. The city also issued a corrective order to halt the competition process, citing violations of Seoul city redevelopment regulations and association competition guidelines. Nevertheless, despite the controversy, the association pushed forward with the competition process, held a vote, and sided with Heerim Architecture.

It is reported that Heerim Architecture presented a plan lowering the FAR to 300% just before the association members’ vote. The association also stated, "Heerim Architecture actively responded and cooperated to proceed with the project in line with the Rapid Integration Plan. We see no problems." However, since pre-vote written ballots were likely cast for the 360% design plan, questions about the validity of the vote have also been raised. Regarding this, Seoul city said on the 16th, "Issues related to the general meeting process will be contested separately."

Lee Dong-ryul, Seoul city spokesperson, said at a briefing on the 14th, "We will lead rapid high-quality housing supply through the Rapid Integration Plan to achieve the goals of stabilizing housing prices and improving residential environments. We will strongly respond to exaggerated and irresponsible baiting plans that only aim to win competitions and are completely different from Seoul city’s public plans in the selection process of architects and construction companies."

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