City of Seoul

This winning entry in invitational competition for the master plan and design of the Songdong Civic Center Complex, an important municipal government center, creates a “city within a city”, with a rich fabric of forms and textures of varying scales that enrich the quality of its urban environment. Occupying a highly visible site along a major urban waterway flowing through the center of Seoul, the design solution called for 500,000 sf of space apportioned among seven buildings arranged around a public plaza. A tower and low-rise building which anchor the end of the main plaza, house the District Government Offices and conference facilities. Council Chambers occupy a circular assembly space fronting a reflecting pool. The Fitness and Community Center, with theatre, gymnasium, pool and educational facilities, opens to the main plaza. Four additional buildings house public health, school district, financial and administrative functions. The project achieves an energetic composition of forms that is reflective of the variety of uses within the civic center complex and creates open, usable spaces for public enjoyment yet does so within a highly restrictive urban site while accommodating subterranean parking.