1

CHEONGGYECHEON 청계천PRIMARY DESIGNER - HYUN-DON SHIN  

A CRITICAL REVIEW BY LUKE BRINSMEAD

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 3

THEORETICAL PROPOSITION 3

DESIGN GENERATION STRATEGIES 3

CULTURAL CONCEXTS 3

REPRESENTATIONAL AGENDAS 4

PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORKS 4

DISCUSSION 4

PROJECT STATICTICS 4

PICTORIAL OVERVIEW OF DESIGN ANALYSIS 5-6

CONNECTIONS WITH HISTORY 7

BIBLIOGRAPHY 8

APPENDIX 9

2

INTRODUCTION

Cheonggyecheon means clean-water stream in South Korean. The restored stream extends 5.8 km, almost half than the original 11 km waterway route, flows from the Jongno and Songdong districts of the city’s downtown area. It is composed of 22 bridges and is delivered with 120, tones of water every day and incorporates flood mitigation structures (Seoul Today, 2005). The restoration of the stream, which was once covered with concrete around 50 years ago as part of the government-led industrialisation efforts after the Korean war, is another step along the path of turning grey into a green city (Korean Herald, 2005). When South Korea was rising from the ruins of war, it didn’t have the luxury of looking far into the future and caring about environmental and cultural issues. South Korea is now at a point where those issues have become a priority. Before the restoration the Cheonggyecheon was a dead place, no sunlight, no wildlife and historical site buried beneath concrete. After the restoration more sunlight beams into the space with some wildlife such as fish and waterbirds returning to the stream and historical monuments resurrected through rebuilt representations and placed in the limelight. The stream directly helps cool down the urban heat island effect by as much as 3.5 °C by transpiration from plants as well as reflecting light and heat from the water’s surface and indirectly by reducing the amount of cars which enter through by more than half.

THEORETICAL PROPOSITION

The Cheonggyecheon is a project which reverses the remoteness with city people and nature and provides users with the opportunity to use the space for relaxation and/or socializing. A similar project, the Rio Piedras Restoration Project in San Juan, Puerto Rico establishes a similar framework for healthy habitats, an opportunity to control flooding waters, and an innovative platform for future education and research (Tamir, 2007). Over the past 40 years, the Rio Piedras watershed in San Juan has been influenced by population growth, development, and conversion of farm land into industrial zones, in much the same history line as the Cheonggyecheon.

DESIGN GENERATION STRATEGIES

Arguably the Soul purpose of the project in was to increase tourism into Seoul while making the city a more desirable city to visit in South Korea. The secondary reason for the project is to provide citizens with a naturalistic parkland type of open space. Plaza 1 section is themed on purely an urban design by incorporating minimal plantings and is attractively well illuminated to promote evening usage. This precinct was deemed urban due to its close proximity to Seoul’s metro district; it is sometimes used for entertainment events and important speeches. As the start of the stream, it seems to have been designed with a high level of aesthetics in mind, using cues from the colourful bright lighting from nearby lighting displays to adopt into a slightly subdued landscape application. The waterfall is the main focal point of this section, it magnetises the viewer’s attention while suppressing the city sounds. The modern form of the plaza forms linkages with the modern theme of the precinct. The smooth flat substrate of this part of the stream encourages people to remove their shoes and embrace the cooling effect of flowing stream water. This close interaction with the stream and the user would seem to make people feel more connected with stream and potentially causes the user to more so appreciate the stream’s aqueous qualities. Plaza 2 section is a combination of urban and semi natural; as the stream moves further away from the centre of the CBD into the more residential area it develops more of a natural character which is a response to a slightly more openness to increased access to sunlight. Plaza 3 section is the most natural of the three sections, its aquatic plantings help improve stream water quality whilst creating a more natural ecosystem for aquatic life. As well as providing ecological function the greening of this section provides residents with more naturally soothing stream location compared to a more urban-centric theme.

CULTURAL CONTEXTS

Seoul is a highly dense city which is composed of high density living, many tall office buildings, retail shops and some factories. This high citizen density combined with an active evening social lifestyle greatly contributes to the generous illumination in the urban and semi urban sections of the Cheonggyecheon. Because this city is primarily built upon an industrious nature, citizens generally do not have much appreciation for nature, especially the young generation. It would therefore be inappropriate to place the natural section in amongst Plaza 1 due to this conflict of affiliation. However, as the plants grow and expose themselves by default to users, the once de-natured may begin to gain/regain appreciation for nature and ecosystems. South Korean culture is mostly oriented around work, as many having working days 8 am to 8 pm Monday to Friday and sometimes Saturday. This work dominated lifestyle reflects the evening after work social dinning at socializing as well as the reduced time for sport, recreational and hobby activities. Until recently, primary and secondary schooling involved students attending from 8 am to 9 pm Monday to Friday as well as Saturday. The hard working nature of citizens therefore finds the Cheonggyecheon a very rewarding location to visit after such amounts of work or schooling.

3

REPRESENTATIONAL AGENDAS

Many 3D CAD and photoshopesque drawings were used in the conceptual rendering stage to promote and sell the concept to investors and the general public, very few hand drawings were released to the public for consultation. However within the Seoahn landscape architecture office some hand drawings of initial concept plans and sketches were formed to help generate ideas and concepts. Hand drawing methods seem to not be used in many documents displaying the design concept because of the notion of public misinterpretation.

PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMEWORKS

The vision and initiation of nature returning back into the heart of Seoul after many decades of absence stems from the mayor himself. Myung-bak Lee wanted to connect the more affluent and less affluent, north and south respectively, to increase the level of equality in Seoul. The design intent was largely driven by a though public consultation before the operational works began. There was much criticism about vehicle disposition and

A particular extract from the speech of Mayor of Seoul, Myung-bak Lee, during the official opening of the Cheonggyecheon on the 1st of July 2003 quotes: “Just as the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the 2002 World Cup stoked a unique culture where the citizens take the initiative, I believe the restoration of Cheonggyecheon will lead, and must lead to the birth of a new urban culture. This urban culture should be one that strikes the right balance between nature and humanity, one that brings down the barriers between young and old, and the haves and have-nots.” (Myung-bak Lee, 2003)

DISCUSSION

The fusion of initial feedback from community consultation, through the design conceptualization and ultimately to the final design is represented well in the Cheonggyecheon’s eclectic design. The urban-centric theme in plaza 1 relates well with the nightlife activities of Seoul citizens, while the more natural theme downstream is more appropriate for a slightly more subdued nightlife which is orientated to more residential living. The rebuilding of historic in situ structures seem to subtly blend in quite with the contemporary design, however it appears more justified in the more naturalist areas. One of the main goals being the reconnection between north and south Seoul is linked in an ecological manner rather than an industrial approach, giving more open space to the citizens of Seoul.

PROJECT STATICTICS

• Client: Seoul Metropolitan Government

• Landscape Architects: Hyundon Shin, Wonman Hoi, Juhyun Chung and Yangkyo Chin

• Landscape architect company: Seoahn Landscape Architects Associate CO. LTD

• Main designers: section 1 – Cheongsuk, section 2 – Saman, section 3 - Dongmyung

• Contractors: section 1 – Daelim, section 2 - LG Construction, section 3 - Hyundai Construction

• Independent Check Engineer: section 1 - Suhyoung Engineering, section 2 - Cheil Engineering, section 3 - Cheongsuk Engineering

• Total area: 276,650 m2

• Budget: 100B won or US$ 357M or AU$ 552,593,088 (currency exchange CA: 9/3/2009), the average project cost per sector was about US$ 120M or AU$ 185,745,568.00 (CA: 13/3/09). The actual final total cost was US$ 386M or AU$ 597,481,600 (13/3/09) (8% over budget)

• Cost per square metre: US$ 1,395.26 or AUD$ 2,159.69 (CA: 13/3/09)

• Civil committee established: July 2002, invitation to bid: February 2003, biding June 2003, start of demolition: 1/7/03, sewerage works: October 2003 to April 204, bridge construction: November 2003 to June 2004, road and embankment: November 2003 to October 2004, river structure: February 2004 to April 2005, landscape and auxiliary: October 2004 to September 2005, project completion: 30/9/2005

4

PICTORIAL OVERVIEW OF DESIGN ANALYSIS

5

The start of the water cycle begins at the Cheong-Gye Plaza waterfall.

Section 2 encourages people to use the site for special events, especially in the evening.

SECTION 1 - URBAN

SECTION 2 - SEMI-URBAN / NATURAL

SECTION 2 - NATURAL

Section 3 entices the user experience a closer perspective of nature

6

The sound and view of clean flowing water provides a theropeutic sensation for users, the sound of the splashing water reducing the background city noise.

Many people use the upper urban section of the Cheonggyecheon as a evening social gathering during special events such as choir singing, dancing, art exhibitions and special announchments.

Plantings are allowed to grow near the stream’s edge, this gives a sense of wildness rather than a highly maintained appearance.

The start of the water cycle begins at the Cheong-Gye Plaza waterfall.

The effective combination of attractive lighting and the dynamic use of water

provides users with a more memorable experience of the appreciation of water.

The use of both macro and micro stream crossing routes shows how only a simple small

amount of rocks can allow a person to cross compared to the large highly engineered bridge.

Attractive lighting and an refuge design encourages people passing by to visit this location and to potentially form social group meetings in the evening.

CONNECTIONS WITH HISTORY

7

This laundry site was used prior to the introduction of reticulated mains water in the middle of the 20th century and is now represented to entice visitors down to the stream.

This remnant masonry wall was the original stream bank wall which was covered over when the expressway was constructed in

1973, a flat-face new masonry wall now stands in the original’s place.

The expressway which covered the Cheonggyecheon was demolished in 2003, the only remnant pieces retained were these three concrete piers, symbolizing the stream’s industrial past.Original Ogansu floodgates and a

modern designed historic commemoration of the floodgates.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. The Korean Herald, 2005, Rejuvenated stream breathes fresh life intobustling capital, accessed 7/3/2009, http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&sid1=108&oid=044&aid=0000053458

2. Seoul Today, 2005, Restored Cheonggyecheon gives Seoul new face, accessed 7/3/2009, http://english.seoul.go.kr/today/news/newsclip/1224469_3675.html

3. Myung-bak Lee, 2003, Seoul Metropolitan Government, accessed 7/3/2009, http://english.seoul.go.kr/gover/office/speech/1193548_3332.html

4. Hyun-Don Shin, 2007, Metropolitan Narrative & Life Scape…Time Scape : Restoration, Rehabilition, Replacement Toward GreenPlaza & Greenway : Making Green Plaza Downtwon Seoul.

5. K. Tamir, 2007, Rio Piedras Restoration Project, Topos: Issue 59, accessed 7/3/2009, http://www.topos.de/?Navi=143&Subnavi=89&do=artikel&id=18748

8

APPENDIX

MAIN DESIGNER’S BIOGRAPHY

Hyun-Don Shin • Name: SHIN, HYUN-DON  

• Department: Colligated Progress

• Position: Head of Landscape Design SEOAN

• Address: 201-1201, Satbyeol Dongsung Apt. Bundang-gu

•         (Contact: 011-222-5171, 579-7008 / E-mail : shinhyeondon @ korea.com)

• ID No.: 590814-1052627

• -  Brief Personal Record

•     Master of Landscape Engineering, SungKyunKwan University Graduate School of Science Technology

•     SEOIN Landscape Design / Yoo Shin Corporation

• As of now, Head of Landscape Design SEOAN

• Adjunct Professor of Kyung Won University (Landscape Design)

• Lecturer of University of Seoul (Landscape Design)

• Lecturer for Seoul Construction-field public officials

• Lecturer for Seoul forestry-field public officials

• Member of Advisory Committee for Ecology Competition organized by the Ministry of Environment

• Examiner of Environment & Landscape Architecture Competition

• Chairman of the Design Subcommittee / Editor of Association of Environmental Planning

• Secretary-general of Korean Association of Landscape Architect

• Director of Korea Institute of Landscape Architecture

• Executive Director of Korean Society of Landscape Architect

• Head of SEDI Environmental Design Laboratory (concurrent position)

• Member of Advisory Committee for National Students Landscape Competition

• Member of Advisory Committee for Cheonggyechoen / Korea Water Resources Corporation / Agriculture-based Corporation / Seoul Landscape Advisory Committee

• Editor of Architecture World Award

• *Decorated by President (Cheonggyecheon).

• *Grand Prix at IFLA ER Design Award.

• *Grand Prix in the field of landscape at 61st Jubilee Independence Day of Architecture.

• *Grand Prix in the field of environment, 2006 Seoul Citizens Love Award.

• *Seoul Landscape Architecture Award / Official commendation of the Prime Minister (EXPO).

• * IFLA Design Award (Seonyudo, New Airport) - Group.

• * ASLA Design Award (Seonyudo Park) - Group.

• Feb. 3, 2005 SHIN, HYUN-DON

9