Hanwha Construction Division Begins Seoul Arena Construction... "Top Hallyu Tourism Hub"

Hanwha to Build All Three Domestic Arenas

Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division will build all three large-scale arenas being established in South Korea. It is also the only construction company to have secured arena projects both domestically and internationally.

Seoul Arena Rendering

Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division announced on the 1st that the 'Seoul Arena Complex Cultural Facility Construction Project,' contracted with Seoul Arena Co., Ltd., officially commenced construction on the 30th of last month. This project is a private investment initiative to build a music-dedicated dome theater with 18,269 seats in Chang-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul. It will include a medium-sized theater with 2,010 seats, a cinema, popular music support facilities, and commercial spaces.

Kakao, the main investor of Seoul Arena Co., Ltd., will operate and manage the facility for 30 years after completion, and it is expected to become the largest cultural complex in northeastern Seoul and a premier hub for Hallyu tourism.

The 'Inspire Arena,' South Korea's first performance-dedicated arena completed by Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division, will also begin full-scale operations starting in December. Located inside the Inspire Entertainment Resort on Yeongjong Island, Incheon, it has a total capacity of 15,000 seats and can host a variety of events including concerts, global sports events such as boxing and mixed martial arts, large-scale conventions, award ceremonies, and e-sports.

The 'CJ LiveCity Arena,' destined to become a sacred site for K-pop, is also under construction by Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division. Situated in Janghang-dong, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, it will feature 20,000 indoor seats and an outdoor space capable of accommodating over 40,000 people, making it a super-large-scale venue. CJ LiveCity is being developed as the world's first 'K-content experiential complex' where people worldwide can vividly experience Korea's representative cultural contents such as music, movies, dramas, and entertainment, with the arena expected to play a central role.

Additionally, Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division built the 'Philippine Arena,' the world's largest dome theater listed in the Guinness World Records in 2014, making it the only Korean construction company with arena achievements both domestically and overseas. The Philippine Arena features a dome roof covering 35,948 square meters (five times the size of an international standard soccer field) and over 51,000 seats. The entire process from design to construction was completed by Hanwha using a design-build method.

As K-pop gains global popularity and the number of international artists performing in Korea increases, the need for performance-dedicated arenas has been steadily raised. Until now, large concerts were mainly held at KSPO DOME (formerly Olympic Gymnastics Arena), Gocheok Sky Dome (baseball stadium), and Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium, which were originally established as sports facilities and had many limitations for music performances. Especially after COVID-19, the demand for popular music concert venues exploded, exacerbating the shortage of performance spaces.

In response to the growing demand, numerous arena construction plans have been announced recently, mainly in the metropolitan area, and Hanwha Corporation's Construction Division has achieved outstanding results in this field. Based on top-level domestic technology for dome structures, Hanwha provides large-scale arenas that are safe against heavy rain, strong winds, heavy snow, and earthquakes, while minimizing pillars to create spacious interior spaces.

These arenas are expected to offer stage environments optimized for live music performances by K-pop and domestic and international artists, addressing the shortcomings in sound and production that were common in concerts held in non-specialized venues such as indoor gymnasiums.

Park Cheol-kwang, Head of the Development Business Division, said, "Hanwha is a construction company with the highest level of technology and both domestic and international achievements in the arena and MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) sectors. We expect these arenas to contribute to the development of K-pop and to advance South Korea's performance culture to the next level."