Completion of Namsan Gondola in November 2025... Construction of Negative Pressure Ward at Samsung Seoul Hospital

In November 2025, a gondola connecting Yejang Park in Jung-gu, Seoul, and the summit of Namsan will be completed.

On the 21st, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it had conditionally approved the urban planning facility change plan for this project at the urban planning committee meeting held the previous day.

The Namsan Gondola had been on hold due to issues related to the UNESCO listing of the Hanyangdoseong Fortress. However, it was reconsidered after the 2021 expansion of the World Heritage listing area from Hanyangdoseong to include Tangchundaeseong and Bukhansanseong.

Moreover, since Namsan was designated as an air-purified area in 2015, large buses (tour buses) have been completely restricted from entering since August 2021, making the establishment of a new transportation method urgent.

The gondola will operate from Yejang Park (lower station), located 200 meters from Myeongdong Station, to the summit of Namsan (upper station), with a one-way ride taking about 3 minutes. It will run 25 cabins (each seating 10 people), transporting approximately 1,600 visitors to Namsan per hour. Construction is scheduled to begin in November 2024, with completion and operation starting in November 2025.

A Seoul city official stated, "With the approval of the review, accessibility to Namsan will improve significantly, alleviating inconvenience for citizens and tourists, and we expect revitalization of the downtown areas around Myeongdong and Namsan, which have been stagnant."

On the same day, the urban planning committee also approved a change plan for the construction of a negative pressure ward at Samsung Seoul Hospital in Irwon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Through this, Samsung Seoul Hospital will demolish the fever respiratory clinic on the first floor of the south side of the main building and construct a six-story negative pressure ward, aiming for completion by the end of 2025. The number of existing negative pressure beds will increase from 17 to 57 with the addition of 40 beds. This is expected to enable smoother operation of infectious disease management facilities.

Originally, Samsung Seoul Hospital was located in a natural green area where the maximum floor area ratio (FAR) is 100%, and since the FAR was already fully utilized, expansion was difficult. However, when installing infectious disease management facilities for the purpose of expanding negative pressure beds, the FAR can be additionally relaxed up to 120%.

Accordingly, Samsung Seoul Hospital will be able to install infectious disease management facilities within 5% of the FAR, and all the relaxed FAR will be used to install negative pressure beds.

A Seoul city official said, "Like Samsung Seoul Hospital, if hospitals continue to pursue the advancement of medical resource functions and expansion of infectious disease response facilities, we will not hesitate to provide urban planning support."

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