PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Located in the heart of Seoul, a true plant village has been realised on a former inner city highway in an ever-changing urban area accommodating the biggest variety of Korean plant species and transforming it into a public 983-metre long park gathering 50 families of plants including trees, shrubs and flowers displayed in 645 tree pots, collecting around 228 species and sub-species. In total, the park includes 24,000 plants (trees, shrubs and flowers), many of which will grow to their final heights in the next decade.
“Our design offers a living dictionary of plants which are part of the natural heritage of South Korea and now, existing in the city centre. The idea here is to connect city dwellers with nature, while at the same time also offering the opportunity of experiencing these amazing views to the Historical Seoul Station and Namdaemun Gate. Skygarden is an educational arboretum, a nursery for future species and one that in the future will act as a garden which can extend to other parts of Seoul as the plants grow and are transferred to new homes…..They are planted in containers of different size and height and organised in groups of families. The families are ordered according to the Korean alphabet. This leads to surprising spatial compositions”.
-Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV.
You can read more about the project via this MVRDV press release, as well as their official project page.
PROJECT DETAILS
Design: MVRDV – Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries
Competition
Winy Maas, Wenchian Shi with Kyosuk Lee, Kai Wang, Ángel Sánchez Navarro, Jaewoo Lee, Antonio Luca Coco, Matteo Artico and Jaime Domínguez Balgoma.
Design Development
- Winy Maas, Wenchian Shi with Kyosuk Lee, Mafalda Rangel, Daehee Suk, Daan Zandbergen, Kai Wang, Sen Yang and Dong Min Lee
- Landscape Design: Ben Kuipers landscape architect, MVRDV
- Local Architect: DMP, Seoul, Korea
- Structure: Saman Engineering, Seoul, Korea
- Local Landscape Designer: KECC, Seoul, Korea
- Lighting Design: Rogier van der Heide, MVRDV and Nanam Ald, Seoul Korea
Construction
- Winy Maas, Wenchian Shi with Kyosuk Lee, Mafalda Rangel, Dong Min Lee
- Landscape Design: Ben Kuipers Landscape architect
Partners
- Landscape Architect: Ben Kuipers, Delft, Netherlands
- Local Architect: DMP, Seoul, Korea
- Structure: Saman Engineering, Seoul, Korea
- Local Landscape Designer: KECC, Seoul, Korea
- Sustainability: EAN, Seoul, Korea
- Architectural Structure: Cross, Seoul, Korea
- Industrial Designers: Studio Makkink & Bey, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- MEP: Samsin, Seoul, Korea
- Traffic Engineers: Song Hyun R&D, Seoul, Korea
- Lighting Design: Viabizzuno, Milan, Italy and Nanam Ald, Seoul Korea
- App Design: nhtv, Breda, Netherlands
- Cost Engineers: Myong Gun, Seoul, Korea
- Images: Ossip van Duivenbode
