DDP has been designed as a cultural hub at the center of one of the busiest and most historic districts of the city.
The design is governed by the belief that architecture should enable people to think beyond existing boundaries, in order to reach innovative solution.
DDP reinterprets the celebrated spatial concepts of traditional Korean garden design: layering, horizontality, blurring relationship between the interior and the exterior with no single feature dominating the perspective.
This approach is further informed by historic local painting traditions depicting grand visions of the ever-changing aspects of nature.
The form of DDP is an architectural landscape that revolves around the ancient city wall and newly discovered cultural artefacts which form the central element of the composition linking the park and plaza together, While our fluid design language encourages the greatest degree of interaction between the plaza and the public.
The design integrates the park and plaza seamlessly as one, blurring the boundary between architecture and nature in a continuous, fluid landscape that connects the city, park and architecture together.
By folding various building programmes and history with the landscape and through numerous voids, undulations, DDP gives visitors glimpses into innovate world of design, contemporary culture, historic artifacts and emerging nature.
DDP design is the very specific result of how the context, local culture, programmatic requirements and innovative engineering come together - allowing the architecture, city and landscape to seamlessly combine in both form and spatial experience.
The park is accessible to everyone with folds and inflections in its surface that welcome and direct visitors through different levels of the interior.
The design blurs the boundaries between architecture and urban landscape, solid and void, interior and exterior. It is an architectural landscape where concepts of spatial flow are made real – creating a whole new kind of civic space for the city.
The fluid design encourages the greatest degree of interaction between the park and the people of Seoul.
Exterior of DDP (2014/2014) by Photographer Virgile Simon BertrandDongdaemun Design Plaza | DDP
Voids and inflections in the park’s surface give visitors glimpses into the innovative world of design below, making DDP an important link between the city’s contemporary culture, emerging nature and history.
DDP engages the community in a collective dialogue where many contributions and innovations feed into each other, allowing talents and ideas to flourish. In combination with the city’s exciting public cultural programs, DDP is an important investment in the education and inspiration of future generations; further developing Korea as a center of innovation.
Contributions -
Zaha Hadid Architects,
Seoul Design Foundation
Photo -
Zaha Hadid Architects,
Seoul Design Foundation,
Virgile Simon Bertrand,
Park Sanghoon, Park Haewook