Seoul City to Amend Building Ordinance to Reduce Distance Between Apartment Buildings

Promotion of Amendment to the 'Seoul Special City Building Ordinance'
When Two Buildings Face Each Other on the Same Site
Improvement of Distance Between Buildings to 0.5 Times Building Height
"Complex Forms Will Be Creatively Developed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Seoyul] The Seoul Metropolitan Government is pushing for an amendment to the ordinance that reduces the distance standards between apartment buildings during construction.

On the 25th, Seoul announced that it is promoting the revision of the 'Seoul Metropolitan Building Ordinance' to improve the spacing between buildings (inter-building distance) in multi-family housing. This ordinance amendment follows the relaxation of inter-building distance standards in the 'Enforcement Decree of the Building Act' revised last November and aims to improve delegated matters through the ordinance. The amendment will be applied immediately upon revision.

With this ordinance amendment, if two or more buildings face each other on the same site, the distance from the wall with windows or similar features must be at least 0.5 times the building height in the perpendicular direction. Additionally, if the direction of the living room (main opening) of a taller building within the 180° range from due east to due south to due west faces a shorter building, the distance must be at least 0.5 times the height of the shorter building. However, the minimum separation distance between buildings (10m), considering privacy protection and disaster situations, must be maintained.

The existing regulations for spacing between multi-family housing buildings required either △ 0.8 times the building height △ or, in the southeast to south to southwest range, if the southern building is lower and the living room faces south, the greater distance between 0.6 times the height of the taller building or 0.8 times the height of the shorter building. The city stated, "Under these conditions, there were limitations in planning building arrangements considering surrounding views."

The city expects that improving the inter-building distance standards will enable more flexible and creative multi-family housing plans and allow the creation of various community spaces such as parks on the ground level.

Yoo Changsoo, Director of the Seoul Housing Policy Office, said, "With this amendment, the conditions for project implementation in each redevelopment project will improve, and the previously uniform forms of multi-family housing complexes, which complied with inter-building distance standards, are expected to be developed in a more creative manner."

Meanwhile, when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced last year that it would reduce the distance between buildings, criticism arose that it might lead to the construction of 'chicken coop apartments.' In response, a city official emphasized, "Since the floor area ratio is fixed in Korea, the number of households that can fit on an apartment complex site is limited," adding, "This amendment allows flexible arrangement of the limited households, enabling creative architecture."

He added, "The core of this regulation amendment is that the lower building is located to the south, so the lower building will not be hindered from receiving southern sunlight."