Winning design boosts park's expandability and usability

Design work to begin in July, tied to second Sejong Center construction

Five finalist works to go on display at Seoul City Hall

The winning design entry, "Yeouido Park We Grow Together." [Seoul Metropolitan Government]
The winning design entry, "Yeouido Park We Grow Together." [Seoul Metropolitan Government]

Seoul has finalized a design for the redevelopment of Yeouido Park. Design work is set to begin this month, with construction linked to the building of a second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (tentative name) starting in 2027 and park work to proceed in phases through 2030.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it selected a design by Saram and Namu Co. and two partner firms as the winner of its open design competition for the Yeouido Park redevelopment, with the masterplan to be unveiled July 2. The winning team will receive the design contract for the project, while other finalists will receive prize money on a tiered basis.

Yeouido Park, which opened in January 1999, has seen much of its infrastructure fall into disrepair. Concerns have also been consistently raised that the park effectively divides the Yeouido area into disconnected eastern and western halves, leaving it poorly integrated with the surrounding urban fabric.

The redesign called for a spatial reconfiguration that would allow the park to serve as a cultural hub — incorporating the newly planned second Sejong Center for the Performing Arts (tentative name) and offering diverse cultural activities and event spaces linked to the Han River.

The competition covered an area of 195,539 square meters, excluding the site reserved for the second Sejong Center (tentative name), and asked entrants to propose ways to reconnect the park with the nearby Saetgang Park and improve pedestrian networks with surrounding neighborhoods. Participants were required to align with a vision of preserving the park's ecological assets while breaking down urban boundaries and creating a park that breathes with the future.

Ten teams entered the competition. Five advanced past the first round of judging, and on June 25 the finalists presented their proposals before a panel of landscape, architecture and urban planning experts, who selected the winning entry through in-depth deliberation based on creativity and feasibility.

Key evaluation criteria included the ability to realize the park's inherent value and a nature-based vision for the future, the creation of a cultural park platform accommodating diverse cultural and leisure programs in conjunction with the second Sejong Center (tentative name), spatial creativity and innovation, and the capacity to overcome the park's disconnection from the surrounding urban environment.

In their assessment of the winning entry, the judges said the design "excels in spatial openness and views through well-balanced emptying and filling, and raises the park's expandability and usability through organic connectivity with the city by treating the park's edges in relation to the surrounding streetscape."

The winning design, "Yeouido Park We Grow Together," centers on a "triple-layer structure" concept that preserves the vegetation, topography and waterways accumulated in the park over the past 30 years while reorganizing the space into two linear parks and an open central inner park. The plan aims to transform Yeouido Park into South Korea's premier cultural park — one where culture, ecology and the city converge, and where residents and businesses participate together in its stewardship.

Based on the masterplan, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to begin design work this month, launch redevelopment construction in conjunction with the second Sejong Center (tentative name) project from 2027, and carry out park construction in phases through 2030.

The city will hold a separate awards ceremony and display all five finalist designs in the lobby of City Hall's first floor for one week, open to the public.

Kim Young-hwan, director of the Garden City Bureau, said the city would "transparently disclose the entire process from design to construction and reflect the opinions of citizens, given that Yeouido Park has long been a beloved space for Seoul residents."


ikson@heraldcorp.com