[Construction in] "The One Landscape That Stays in Your Mind, That's the Landscaping of Modern Apartments"

Choi Yeongil, Landscape Manager at Hyundai Construction

Apartment ground floors once filled only with parking lots
Landscaping began to fill these spaces from the early 2000s

Adding value to the homes we live in
And fostering pride in living there

Hyundai Hillstate and The H's landscaping product planning and design manager, Choi Yeon-gil, head of Hyundai Construction's landscaping team, is being interviewed on the 5th at The H Honors Hill in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

"When you think of New York's Central Park, you imagine wide, green lawns, large trees surrounding it, and people enjoying leisure time there. I wanted to create that one memorable view even in an apartment. I believe the role of apartment landscaping is to add value to the home you live in and to instill a sense of pride in living there."

On the 5th, we met Choi Yeon-gil, the landscaping manager at Hyundai Engineering & Construction, at The H Honor Hills in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Introducing the central plaza within the complex, he said this. The plaza was like a painting, with trees gathered from all over the country?Jeju Island’s banyan trees, Seosan’s pine trees, and Buyeo’s golden pines?spread out over a lawn that covered the ground like a carpet. In between, works by famous domestic and international artists were exhibited, giving off a strong 'art museum' vibe.

He explained, "If I lived in a mansion in Hannam-dong, wouldn’t I hang a 100 million won painting in my house? Wouldn’t I place an artistic chair, not just a bench, in the yard? With that thought, we set the landscaping concept of Honor Hills as an 'art museum.' It’s about realizing the value that can only be enjoyed in luxury residences through landscaping."

The transformation of apartment ground floors, which used to be packed with parking lots, into landscaping that reveals the identity of the complex began in the early 2000s. From the late 1980s, apartments were built en masse, centered around Gangnam and the first-generation new towns, but at that time, the concept of landscaping did not exist. Later, when the foreign exchange crisis hit and the real estate market cooled, the era when apartments sold just by being built ended. Construction companies had to enhance their competitiveness to survive, and from the early 2000s, they began launching 'brand apartments.' Hyundai Engineering & Construction introduced the 'Hillstate' brand during this period.

Manager Choi said, "At that time, a law was enacted requiring underground parking in apartments, so the ground floors began to be transformed into parks. Each brand started offering differentiated products with landscaping concepts like 'apartments with flowing streams.'” Then, from the mid-2010s, luxury residential brands like Hyundai’s The H emerged, and the importance of landscaping became even more emphasized.

Choi Yeon-gil, head of the landscaping team at Hyundai Construction, responsible for planning and designing landscaping products for Hyundai Hillstate and The H, is being interviewed on the 5th at The H Honors Hill in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

Manager Choi also shared an episode about the 'designer chairs' in the central plaza of The H Honor Hills. "Apartment benches were too uniform, so we brought in chairs designed by famous architect Alessandro Mendini from overseas and installed them to encourage residents to try sitting on something different. But one resident once reported to the management office, saying 'someone is sitting on that artwork.' As the landscaping manager, I felt both pleased and a bit embarrassed," he laughed.

Nowadays, special attention is paid to apartment landscaping for children. A representative example is the 'Octonauts Playground' at Hillstate Lake 2nd in Songdo, Incheon. Manager Choi sent emails to the original author of the Octonauts story and contacted the British animation production company to collaborate and create this playground.

He said, "I thought that if children and even their parents could go out to the apartment playground and experience scenes they saw on TV animations right at home, satisfaction would be high. Now, the Octonauts Playground is as popular as well-known kids’ cafes in the neighborhood."

Manager Choi is responsible for the landscaping of the Dunchon Jugong reconstruction apartment (Olympic Park Foreon) until the end of this year. It is a large complex with about 12,000 households, and each construction company is working on landscaping divided into four zones. He said, "In the case of Olympic Park Foreon, the atmosphere of the complex will differ depending on which construction company is in charge of landscaping in each zone. Watching the landscaping that reflects the personality of each construction company will be a highlight of Dunchon Jugong."