Seoullo 7017 - the Highline of Seoul?

New Infrastructure

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Seoullo 7017 is an elevated park, also known as a “sky arboretum” in the center of Seoul. It is a former highway infrastructure in Seoul that used to serve high volumes of traffic for past 17 years. This old infrastructure that was supposed to be demolished, reborn as a public park space was in fact, largely inspired by Highline design in New York. The megaproject is a recent endeavor by the Seoul national government to rejuvenate less trafficked areas of the cities, similar to the incredibly successful Cheonggyecheon project.

Seoullo 7017, Seoul Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

Highline NYC, Image © Timeout NYC

As an old highway that worked as one of the segments of spine in Seoul, the infrastructure itself has a huge potential to provide new connectivity to the commercial areas which have been waiting for changes for a long period of time. Seoul was a great opportunity. MVRDV, a Rotterdam based architecture and urban design company took over the project and designed a new space. This is Winy Mass’ idea of “floating concrete garden” in Seoul.

Of course, there are many debates going on regarding architecture, design and the landscape. The concrete filled walkway and the budget regarding material, why 40M $ project is filled with concrete, have been creating questions regarding the misappropriation of budget use - it has been quite controversial.

Seoullo 7017, Seoul Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

The use of concrete as the finished material gives a coherent look overall to the park. However, the little plants that are placed in the planters are not going to grow to their full potential. The plants will hardly thrive to a point where they start to layer themselves to mimic the look of nature. Rather, they will wilt from constrained growth and will eventually be replaced with new/ healthier ones from a nursery. It will not become an elevated greenway unless plants are settled and layers are created but it seems like there is no room for such establishments. There must have been an opportunity to explore an intensive soil layer system for a robust garden…instead of concrete planters.

The major benefit about a planter approach is that the government can completely control the plants maintenance budget. If there is a disease going around amongst plants or any weed problems, those can be completely controlled within an expected amount of budget.

Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

Image © Ossip van Duivenbode

Those who have been to New York City often compare it to the Highline and complain about the level of design details that weren't executed on Seoullo (trees, benches, water elements etc). However, regardless of concrete finish, the fact that Seoul government that have not been very design oriented was able to see the benefit for the public and create an urban intervention means great deal for the contemporary Seoul.

Thanks for reading & Stay tuned for the next story!