SPACE July 2024 (No. 680)
Winning proposal of Design Competition for Jamsugyo, Bridge of Culture ©Arch Mist
On May 10, the plan ‘The Longest Gallery’ by Arch Mist (principal, Ningzhu Wang) + CPA Consulting Structural Engineers (principal, Park Chulho) + MADI.MGT ARCHITECTS & CONSULTING CO. LTD. (principal, Kim Dongwook) won the ‘Design Competition for Jamsugyo, Bridge of Culture’ (hereinafter the Jamsu Bridge Design Competition). The Jamsu Bridge Design Competition is a follow-up contest involving five teams selected from the 2023 International Design Competition to Pedestrianising Jamsu Bridge, a leading project of the Great Hangang Project. Despite the construction cost being reduced to one-third compared to the original idea competition and the very short time to solve various structural challenges, the jury stated that ‘The Longest Gallery’ was chosen because it was the most balanced in terms of feasibility, stability, operational management, event diversity, and economic efficiency. They believed that starting from this proposal, the bridge had good potential as a venue.
However, upon winning, ‘The Longest Gallery’ was immediately engulfed in a safety controversy. The Korean Professional Structural Engineers Association (KPSEA) has continuously pointed out to the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) that it is difficult to judge the safety of civil engineering structures if the judging panels consist solely of architects, planning, and marketing experts. Following the announcement of the winning proposal, KPSEA claimed that the winner submitted an unfeasible plan, arguing that their design, which supposedly planned the structure 1m higher than the past maximum flood level of 13.7m, was so narrow that people could not walk through it. The SMG held a meeting with related organisations, including KPSEA, and decided to present visible measures to prevent the recurrence of such issues by the end of June.
