SPACE April 2024 (No. 677)
Aerial views of Nodeul Island (2019) ©Hyun Jun Lee / Image courtesy of MMK+
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) have announced that they will hold an International Design Competition for the Nodeul Global Art Island, following their Idea Design Competition for the Nodeul Global Art Island that took place in Apr. last year. In a similar way to the Idea Design Competition, Kang Yerin (professor, Seoul National University) + SoA, Kim Chanjoong (principal, THE_SYSTEM LAB), Na Unchung + Yoo Sorae (co-principals, NAMELESS Architecture), Shin Seungsoo (principal, designgroup OZ), Bjarke Ingels (principal, BIG), Thomas Heatherwick (principal, Heatherwick Studio), and Jürgen Mayer H (principal, J. MAYER H. and Partners, Architects) will all be joining as participants. Each team has to propose a design encompassing the entire area of Nodeul Island in accordance with competition guidelines and meet the construction budget of 309.8 billion KRW. The SMG prepared guidelines by dividing Nodeul Island into levels: aerial level, ground level, base level, and a waterside area. An observatory or an aerial pedestrian path with a view of Hangang River has been placed in the aerial section; the eastern area at ground level features gardens and walking paths preserving nature; while to the west sides there is a cultural complex centred around daily life. Base levels and watersides must be in accordance with The River Act and should be planned to support different activities on the riversides, connecting pedestrian paths between the ground levels and waterside levels.
The project site is Nodeul Island—an artificial island that was constructed in 1917. Sand from the Hangang River was used for land reclamation and to build the roads of Ichon-dong in 1960 – 1970s, giving the island its present day appearance. Several attempts to develop the island, such as the ‘Plan to Build a Cultural Complex in Nodeul Island’ in 2005, and the announcement of ‘Ordinance for establishing and operation of Hangang River Art Island foundation’ in 2010, all fell short. Of the designs that were selected but not realised are Seoul Performing Arts Center (2006) and Seoul Performing Arts Center (2009). Nodeul Island (2019), designed by mmkplus (co-principals, Kim Jihoon, Moon Donghwan) + Maing Pilsoo (professor, Seoul National University) + OMM Architects (principal, Park Namkyu) + Dongsimwon Landscape Architect (principal, Park Gyoungtak) was completed after facing numerous difficulties, and opened as a cultural space under the name of the Nodeul Dream Island.
Oh Se-hoon, Mayor of Seoul, announced Seoul’s new innovative vision for urban design and architecture on Feb. 9 last year, and selected Nodeul Island to be its first project. The urban design plan to give out incentives to public and innovative designs overturned the initial design plan that was selected via a public consensus of a design competition. Nodeul Island, designed by mmkpluse and three other designers received the Seoul Architecture Award (2020), an award awarded to designers realising public values, and is not five years since its completion. According to the design guidelines of the new design competition, the new design can remove up to 20% of the areas or features of original design. The government is taking lead in the demolition of a building that they had initially acknowledged as worthy of attention, all without a fair reason of design failure or obsolescence.
The SMG is not clearly stating its reasons for the new project. It is presumed, based on the findings of this report, that the problems discovered during the operation of the Nodeul Dream Island would be used as justification factors. It appears that the government has commissioned a feasibility study on the Nodeul Global Art Island Project, yet this was conducted after the planning of the Idea Design Competition, and no documents of the research results have been made available to the public. If there is no valid basis for ignoring the existing Nodeul Island and promoting a new design contest, then the National Idea Competition for the Nodeul Global Art Island to collect citizens’ ideas will end up being a useless line of action. SMG’s Nodeul Island project has a conceivable intention of inviting famous domestic and foreign architects to create a space for citizens, but it is still ongoing as part of opaque process with insufficient evidence.
