Seoul City Announces Private Sector Urban and Architectural Innovation Design Competition

by Im Onyu

Published 24 Apr.2023 07:52(KST)

Seoul City announced on the 24th that it will open a public contest for private sites for the 'Urban and Architectural Creative and Innovative Design Pilot Project.'

After announcing the urban and architectural design innovation plan in February and holding a contest for the Nodulsom design as the first public sector innovation case, the city is now launching a pilot project targeting private buildings.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is holding a press briefing on urban architectural design innovation at Seoul City Hall on the 9th. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

Questions related to the contest will be accepted on the Seoul City design competition website (Project Seoul) until the 25th of this month, and proposals will be submitted on the 19th of next month.

After evaluation by a separately formed Design Innovation Committee, about 10 pilot project sites will be selected and announced in May.

The city plans to exclude or relax various building regulations to ensure that creative and original architectural designs can be developed at the selected sites.

Restrictions on landscaping, building coverage ratio, open space within the site, and building height will be lifted, and the floor area ratio will also be relaxed up to 1.2 times the maximum floor area ratio stipulated in the Enforcement Decree of the National Land Planning Act.

Contest participants must secure land use rights for the pilot project sites and comply with the 'Seoul City Sensibility and Innovation Design Guidelines.'

Proposals should include an overview of the site such as address, area, and zoning, as well as the development concept, innovative design plan, and implementation schedule.

Sites subject to development restrictions, reconstruction, redevelopment, or maintenance promotion districts are excluded.

Detailed contest guidelines can be found on the Seoul City website or Project Seoul.