SPACE January 2025 (No. 686)
Winning proposals: Design Competition for Remodeling of the Botanical Garden at Seoul Children’s Grand Park ©1990 urban architecture office
Since its opening on May 5, 1973, the number of visitors to Seoul Children’s Grand Park which is now more than 50 years old has dwindled. In response to this, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) introduced the Grand Park Redevelopment Plan in 2020. As a part of this redevelopment plan, a design competition was organised to remodel the park’s botanical garden – which is Korea’s first modern botanical garden – into a unique botanical garden that distinguishes itself from conventional exhibition types. The winner was announced on Nov. 22 as ‘Sikmuldogam’ by 1990 urban architecture office (co-principal, Yoon Geunju, Hwang Junghwan). To modernise the original botanical garden, the winning design proposed a greenhouse exhibition. All space was mapped onto a single floor to facilitate visitor movement. Through its non-rigid movement flow design, visitors are given freedom to move around actively. Upon confirming the connection between the original steel framework and the RC beam, 1990 urban architecture office opted to preserve it. Furthermore, by utilising the structural load of the original building, a crisscrossing structure was newly added to the framework. This not only helps to preserve the original building’s past history and display it as a historical piece but also creates a harmonious relationship with the surrounding facilities by promoting an exchange of interior and exterior.
