The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has confirmed the basic design of a controversial project to convert the Seoul Station Overpass into a park.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon gave a press briefing on the finalized basic design of the project on Feb. 3 that combines Winy Maas’s winning architectural design for the Seoul Station 7017 Project and Seoulites’ ideas.
The Dutch architect, Maas, won a design contest for the project that took place from Jan. 29 to Apr. 24 last year with the winning design “Seoul Arboretum.” He is founder and chief architect of MVRDV, a global architecture and urban planning company known for projects such as the Netherlands Pavilion at the 2000 Hanover Expo and Grand Paris Plus Petit, which depicts the company’s vision of Paris in 2030. The prize-winning work depicts the Seoul Station Overpass as a massive tree in a “sky garden,” creating a library-like collection of local plants arranged according to their names in the Korean alphabet, from Toegye-ro to Jungnim-dong. Street lamps will line the overpass like tree branches, organically linking the 17 pedestrian pathways that the Seoul Metropolitan Government requested be built.
The futuristic and innovative characteristics of the prize-winning design received high praise, as its vision and strategy focuses on turning a concrete structure into a place of vitality and life, using nature as a medium. Moreover, the judges widely supported the design as it permits the extension of the green areas around Seoul Station and places of great importance in the collaborative process of the renewal project, allowing various citizens and agents to be actively involved.
SMG will reinforce the overpass between March and December and will install facilities in April. The project will cost a combined 146.9 billion won by 2018, including 54.5 billion won set aside for this year.
The dilapidated overpass will be converted into a pedestrian path filled with 186 species of flora. It will be outfitted with 135 benches, a number of cafes, outdoor stages, flower shops, a tourism information center and other facilities. Four balconies, 17 meters high, will be built to look over Seoul Station, Sunglaemun (South Gate), Junglim-dong and Cheongpa-dong areas. The renewed overpass will have three transparent plates to take a view of the Seoul Station Intersection and Seoul Railroad Station.
The basic design of the project calls for connecting 17 roads in seven directions by installing elevators and escalators with a focus on restoring broken parts to the original state. The new overpass park can be approached by the existing three lamps at Hoehyeon Subway Station, Mali Pass and Cheongpa-dong and newly installed six elevators and one escalator.
The overpass park will stretch into the planned Mali-dong Park, which will be created on the site of the former garbage truck depot and its adjacent area covering 10,443 sq. meters.
The metropolitan government plans to complete reinforcement project by the end of this year. It will remove 20 outworn floor spans out of the 29 that are there. They will also refurbish the piers and upper structures to elevate safety standards of the overpass.
The new park will be designed with an increased weight capacity to 21 tons. “The paradigm is shifting from overall demolishment and redevelopment to urban renewal, and the new overpass park will become a landmark connecting districts and people beyond converting the old overpass into a pedestrian path,” Seoul Mayor Park said.
Some pundits say that the Seoul Station Overpass lacks historical significance and the value for preservation.
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