JONGNO BOULEVARD, Seoul, 1999

 

Award    1st Prize, Nationwide Design Competition and Project Award

 

Scope    Landscape and Traffic Re-Design Proposal

Size        3 km

Client     Seoul Metropolitan Government

 

Jongno Boulevard is one of the 2 historically most important and most popular streets of Seoul. The area is well known for its cinema district, drinking places, as well as the UNESCO World Heritage sites Chongmyo Imperial Ancestral Shrine and Tapkol Pagoda Park. Today, the boulevard is a 8-10 lane artery suffering air and noise pollution. Its narrow sidewalks are severely degraded and excessively crowded due to heavy pedestrian traffic and infringement by uncontrolled street stalls.

 

Oikos' winning design proposes a complete reorganization of the traffic system to increase pedestrian areas, including the alleys behind the boulevard. It also provides new environmentally and culturally fit access forecourts to the world heritage sites.

The implementation was discontinued for political reasons.