Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Public buildings add value to Sejong
Government Complex in Sejong / Korea Times file
By Nam Hyun-woo
By Kim Jin-sook
National Agency for Administrative City Construction Administrator Kim Jin-sook
Historical buildings and memorable monuments oftentimes play a pivotal role in transforming cityscapes, drawing tourists and providing economic boosts for cities.
This is described as the Bilbao Effect, which refers to the phenomenon of how the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao became a tourist attraction and brought fame to a city once economically distressed.
Paris made the case with its Eiffel Tower, which was built in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution, and the Opera House in Sydney is not only Australia's icon but also considered representative modern architecture of the 20th century.
Public architecture with showy design symbolizes the city and elevates its overall status, as it oftentimes results in improvements in the design of other buildings. The fine design of a public building becomes a spectacle for residents and visitors and promotes the city's reputation as its landmark.
The National Agency for Administrative City Construction (NAACC) has been striving for this to happen with Sejong since the planning stage of the administrative city. The agency has held public contests to bring design experts on board with city planning and applied a series of advanced technologies in developing the city.
As a result, the NAACC came up with the Government Complex. Occupying 520,000 square meters of land, the low and horizontal complex of buildings creates harmony with the city's landscape, embodying the concept of a government office opened to the public. The roofs of the 18 buildings in the complex are connected with bridges, forming a single rooftop garden. The 3.5-kilometer garden has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's largest garden on a rooftop.
The Sejong National Library of Korea and the Presidential Archives were also recognized by international awards for their designs which blend into the surrounding environment of Mount Wonsu and Sejong Lake. The library won a 2014 Red Dot Award, which is one of the top three international design awards, and the archives won the International Design Excellence Awards with their unique and innovative design.
More recently, the NAACC has been working on cultural facilities such as museum complexes and art centers to promote the city's brand value through public architecture. In doing so, the NAACC is opening its projects to public architects as well as using design quality management systems.
The National Museum Complex, which incorporated an urban master plan selected from an international competition in 2016, conceptualizes a museum within nature with the motif of a traditional palace and courtyard, and thereby produces various spaces which harmonize with the surrounding natural environment and urban landscape.
With the completion of five museums that fit into the scenery of the Geum River, Jecheon River and Central Park, the Museum Complex will transform into a cultural hub where citizens can enjoy leisure life.
The Sejong Government Complex Cultural Center completed in August embodies unique floral designs that represent various cultural activities for citizens and offer endlessly changing visual attractions following the movement path.
The Art Center which will be completed in 2021 will focus on promoting the urban value of architecture by embodying a futuristic concept by expressing an image of flying to the sky, utilizing Hangeul's creative principle of “Heaven-Earth-Human” as the architectural modeling method.
Architecture creates the city, and the city moves forward embracing culture. The sequential showcasing of various museums and competition of the Art Center in Sejong will join in on forming a happy culture belt along with the National Library in Sejong, and Presidential Archives, which will enhance the city's cultural value with creative urban architecture and rich cultural enjoyment.
The NAACC will continuously strive to solidify Sejong as the hub of architectural culture that continuously leads in class and value through persistent design innovation of public architecture.