The Seoul Metropolitan Government has invited architects, landscape architects and urban designers to propose designs for a new music-led cultural complex on an island on the Han River.
An international architecture competition will be held to select a masterplan for ‘Nodeul Dream Island,’ which will host concerts, festivals, exhibitions and other cultural events.
The island, which is currently covered in trees and farm land, is linked to the city either side of the river by a bridge.
The government has suggested that the site should include a pop-music concert hall with up to 500 seats, a theatre for musicals and plays, a start-up facility for creative companies and a multi-purpose event space.
However, it has insisted the winning design will be selected via a democratic judging process – run by a jury of architects – and if the selected proposal doesn’t require a physical structure, no buildings need be constructed.
“This competition wants to find a monumental project in terms of public value,” said a government statement. “The most meaningful and practical project will win, not the most glamorous or enormous.”
The competition is seeking a design that represents good value and an understanding of the area’s history and what local people want and need. “An entrant who achieves this will be selected ahead of a business-minded entrant whose design is reliant on retrieving the investment cost with business profits,” the government said.
The music concept and facility types for Nodeul Dream Island were decided in two previous competitions held in 2015. Submissions for the latest contest can be entered until 27 May 2016.
A design team must have no more than five members, and one representative must be a licensed architect.
A shortlist of seven winners will be selected on 20 June, before the jury makes its final decision on the design team which will win the right to begin construction on the project.
The second-placed team will receive a 50m KRW (US$41,300, €37,700, £29,000) prize and the third runner up will receive 30m KRW (US$24,800, €22,600, £17,400).
Last year, the Seoul government launched an international design contest to develop a comprehensive blueprint and masterplan for the city centre and the site of the former National Tax Service Building. American architecture firm Terminal Seven won the tender with their vision to create a history and culture park.
