Seoul City Issues Design Competition Management Service
Second Sejong Cultural Center to Rise Amid Abundant Greenery
Expectations for Economic Revitalization Beyond Citizen Cultural Enjoyment
Seoul City has initiated the ‘Yeouido Park Restructuring’ project. Preparatory work has begun for an international design competition involving outstanding architects from both domestic and overseas, ahead of establishing the project plan. Seoul City expects Yeouido Park to transform into a world-class urban cultural park like Millennium Park in Chicago, USA, contributing to economic revitalization.
According to Seoul City on the 14th, the city issued a contract for managing the planning and design competition of Yeouido Park the day before. On May 20th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced, "We will reorganize Yeouido Park into a world-class urban cultural park and build the Second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts to make it a landmark." Accordingly, Seoul City has begun recruiting experts to prepare detailed plans and various guidelines for the design competition for the restructuring of Yeouido Park. A Seoul City official explained, "This is to encourage participation from outstanding architects domestically and internationally and select a design proposal of international standards."
The location of Yeouido Park was originally the site of a runway according to the Yeouido development plan initiated in 1968. It was developed into a plaza in 1972 and opened as Yeouido Park in January 1999. The area is 229,539㎡ (approximately 70,000 pyeong), accounting for about 8% of Yeouido, making it quite large. However, despite its central location, it has been criticized for dividing Yeouido into east and west by cutting through the center north to south, causing spatial disconnection and lowering Yeouido’s spatial status.
In response, as part of the ‘urban and architectural design innovation’ emphasized by Mayor Oh, Seoul City decided to reorganize Yeouido Park, which had remained a simple neighborhood park for rest and walking, into a world-class urban cultural park. An urban cultural park refers to a park centered around cultural facilities representing the city, with abundant green spaces. Millennium Park in Chicago and Bryant Park in New York are representative examples.
Millennium Park in Chicago offers various cultural events linked with the Art Institute of Chicago and an outdoor music pavilion, enhancing the city’s image as the top tourist attraction in the U.S. Midwest and attracting 25 million visitors annually. Bryant Park in New York was reopened as an open space for citizens by linking the previously slum-like park with the New York Public Library, leading to increased surrounding commercial facilities and rising building rents, thereby driving economic revitalization.
The cultural facility to be built in Yeouido Park is the Second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, which will be developed as a waterfront landmark connected to Hangang Park. Currently, the southwestern area of Seoul, including Yeouido, lacks performance infrastructure. Among the three major downtown areas, Gwanghwamun has the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Gangnam has the Seoul Arts Center, but Yeouido and Yeongdeungpo have no representative performance halls. A Seoul City official said, "Yeouido Park, including the Second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, will become a hub for cultural balanced development and exchange, thereby strengthening Yeouido’s role as a downtown area."
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