Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition Idea Competition

The road back to the Land Architecture
What is “good architecture”? I can’t give you a simple answer, but I can think of the conditions of a good house to live in first. A house that is well-suited to the convenience of the people living there and which harmonizes well with the surrounding environment—the most important thing in a place to live for a long time is these essential conditions rather than external beauty or temporary fashion. The standard for looking at a house where we will live long is always strict. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully examine the conditions of the city where we live as the city is also an important living space.

Seoul can be said to be the largest home with 10 million people living in it. Most Koreans have lived here for several generations and will continue to live here for a long time, so Seoul is our home in need of “good architecture” the most. Simply changing the landscape of a city to be beautiful or building splendid architecture is not enough. That’s why “urban architecture” isn’t just a job for the government and architects. We should all think about good urban architecture that blends well with our lives in this city and harmonizes with Seoul’s unique natural environment.

Seoul 100 years later, drawing the Land Architecture
Examining the future and future direction of urban architecture is like designing the future of a house where we should live for a long time. The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism is an important international event where such diverse blueprints come and go. The theme of the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism to be held in 2023 is “Land Architecture, Land Urbanism: City of mountain ranges, waterways, and wind breezes, drawing of the Seoul’s Next 100 years,” and it is meaningful as it presents a detailed master plan from an eco-friendly, long-term perspective.

At the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2023, architect Byoung Soo Cho, known for eco-friendly architecture, will be the general director, joined by five experienced curators (Chun, Eui Young, Sara Kim, Leif Høgfeldt Hansen, Jinyoung Lim, and Sang Hoon Youm). At the Biennale event held at the Songhyeon-dong site, which preserves the original scenery of Seoul, and around the Seoul Hall of Urbanism and Architecture, various exhibitions, lectures, forums, and citizen participation programs capturing the topic from a deeper perspective will be held.

It is especially important in this Biennale for the master plan not to be presented by experts but to provide a place for citizens—the owners of the city—to contemplate and imagine together. Therefore, ahead of the biennale in the second half of 2023, a competition and a pre-biennale where citizens can fully share themes and visions will be held first in 2022. Like the theme of the biennale, “Drawing of the Seoul’s Next 100 years,” it is a process of slowly drawing together Seoul, an eco-friendly, high-density city and a city of land where we can live together for a long time, from the ground up.

Seoul master plan drawn by citizens
At the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2023, various exhibitions that delve deeper into the subject, such as Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition, Global Studios Exhibition, On-site Project Exhibition, and Guest Cities Exhibition, will be held. In particular, the Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition is even more noteworthy as it is a place to showcase the ideas of citizens discovered through this year’s competition. Before that, we can ask why we need a new master plan for Seoul.

After the Korean War, rapid urban development took place in Seoul from the late 1950s. Nature was rapidly destroyed due to road expansion centered on automobiles and reckless development for housing supply, and it is difficult to find architecture and forms of life that harmonize with nature in Seoul. The skyscrapers of the city, which rose rapidly for immediate economic efficiency, failed to capture the unique geographical characteristics of Seoul, which can be said to be the foundation. We also missed the benefits of nature surrounding the city, such as the mountains, rivers, and winds of Seoul.

After all, over the past 50 years, the city has continued to develop neither for its inhabitants nor for nature. Urban development aimed at short-term interests—such as to refine the exterior, to attract large number of tourists, or for the benefit of a particular group—leads to the same result as building a castle on crumbling sand. The Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition Idea Competition was planned to address this problem and to draw a big picture from the basic master plan for a high-density, eco-friendly city to the Seoul 100-year urban plan. 

The competition will be held from July to September this year under the theme of “Linking Seoul 100-year master plan with Green Network.” It is open to anyone who wants to contemplate the future of Seoul, including architects, designers, urban planners, researchers, writers, artists, critics, and students, regardless of country and age. You can freely propose ideas for the future of the eco-friendly, high-density city that takes into account the unique natural topography and characteristics of Seoul, such as mountains, rivers, and winds, centering on a total of seven competition sites. The selected works will be presented at the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in 2023 following development with the general director, curators, and experts.

Of course, planning a city from a long-term perspective is not so easy. This is because there are many factors and interests to consider. For a sustainable city, however, the process of accurately identifying existing problems and creating a turning point is essential. If we try step by step starting with major urban spaces, meaningful data that can be applied not only to Seoul but also to cities with characteristics similar to Seoul will be accumulated in the future. Above all, the true significance of this competition can be found—it opens a place where everyone can put their heads together and think about the future of Seoul.

Toward the Land Architecture, Land Urbanism
If you still think that it is a well-built house even after living there for a long time, the house can be said to have been designed really well from the ground up. Hanyang (now Seoul) in 1390 was an eco-friendly city designed according to the flow of mountains, water, and wind. The city was like a well-built house, well-designed from the ground up, where nature and people lived in harmony. We are now going back to the Land Architecture and Land Urbanism at that time to think again about important things.

Ahead of the Biennale, we are dreaming of a new future of Seoul, a house where we should live together for a long time. I am dreaming again of Seoul, where I can think that it is still a great city to live in even if I live a long time, and where both the city’s residents and nature can harmonize. With the 4th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism in 2023 as a steppingstone, I hope we can find a way back to the city of land together. 

To find the full competition brief and register, please visit the competition website.

Competition
Seoul 100-year Masterplan Exhibition Idea Competition for the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2023 

Theme
Linking Seoul 100-year master plan with Green Network

Focal point
–Open competition for ideas
–Free submission of creative / imaginative ideas

Timetable
–Open competition period: July 18–September 15, 2022 (60 days)
–Submission period: August 26–September 15, 2022 (deadline: 4pm)
–Screening period: September 26–30, 2022
–Announcement of screening result: October 14, 2022
Timetable is based on Korean Standard Time. Details of timetable are subject to change, depending on circumstances.

How to submit
–Online submission through the competition website after Subscripting as a member
–As for a team participant, the team leader shall submit an explanatory note on its work submitted 

Contact us
competition.seoulbiennale@gmail.com