A 15-Story Office Building and Art Museum to Be Built in Insadong Cultural District

Approximately 15-story office facilities and an art museum will be built within the Insadong cultural district in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

On the 6th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government held an urban planning committee meeting and announced on the 7th that it had conditionally approved the amendment to the maintenance plan for the small-scale joint development district within the Gongpyeong Urban Maintenance-type Redevelopment Zone.

The target area, 283-15 Nakwon-dong, Jongno-gu, is a region with many deteriorated and substandard buildings over 30 years old and undersized lots, and was designated as a small-scale joint development district in 2013.

With the amendment to the maintenance plan, the project implementation area will expand from 1,771.3㎡ to 2,186.7㎡, and a building with a floor area ratio of 774% and a height of 59 meters will be constructed. The building is planned to house office facilities and an art museum.

A Seoul city official explained, "Considering that the site is located within the Insadong cultural district, the lower floors were planned to maintain the atmosphere of Insadong-gil by linking with surrounding shops, and to allow visitors to feel the charm of the old alleyways inside the building."

With the conditional approval of the amendment to the maintenance plan for the small-scale joint development district within the Gongpyeong Urban Maintenance-type Redevelopment Zone, it is expected that the urban landscape around Insadong will improve and a new cultural space where visitors can experience the charm of the old alleyways will be created.

Meanwhile, at the same meeting, a proposal to change school facilities within the Bangbae 5 Housing Reconstruction Maintenance Zone in Seocho-gu to multipurpose sports facilities and social welfare facilities was also amended and approved. Although the zone received project implementation approval in 2013 and construction began last year, the project had been delayed. Han Byung-yong, Director of the Seoul Housing Policy Office, said, "We hope the project will normalize with this change," adding, "Seoul City will actively support to ensure there is no disruption to the stable housing supply in Seoul."