MVRDV's elevated skygarden opens on former highway in seoul

weaving its way through the urban landscape of seoul, south korea, a new skygarden realized by MVRDV has been built on a former inner city highway. named ‘seoullo’, the public 983-meter-long park has been planted with 50 families of greenery, including trees, shrubs and flowers displayed in 645 tree pots, collecting around 228 species and sub-species.

all images © ossip van duivenbode

‘seoullo’, the korean name for the skygarden, translates to ‘towards seoul’ and ‘seoul street’. the completion of this project will help enliven this central station district into a greener, friendlier and more attractive location, while connecting all patches of green in the wider area. the project began when MVRDV won the competition back in 2015 and the main brief sought to transform the existing overpass into a public garden, overlaying a matrix of korean flora onto the elevated steel and concrete structure.

the existing overpass has been turned into a public garden

new bridges and stairs connect the viaduct with hotels, shops and gardens at the heart of the city. from the start, the architecture firm engaged with this need to change the forgotten and existing infrastructure into a green symbol that will become a catalyst for a greener quarter for seoul. in turn, the pedestrianized viaduct will transform the daily life of thousands of people who access this area every day. in total, the park will include 24,000 plants (trees, shrubs and flowers) that are newly planted — many of which will grow to their final heights in the next decade.

the 983-meter-long park features 50 families of plants displayed in 645 tree pots

new bridges and stairs connect the viaduct with hotels, shops and gardens at the heart of the city

MVRDV engaged with the need to change the forgotten and existing infrastructure into a green symbol

the skygarden is designed to enliven this central district of the city

the project is named ‘seoullo’, which translates to ‘towards seoul’ and ‘seoul street’

in total, the park will include 24,000 newly planted trees, shrubs and flowers

the pedestrianized viaduct is located next to seoul’s main station

the skygarden is built on top of an inner-city highway from the 1970s

project info:

competition:
winy maas, jacob van rijs and nathalie de vries with wenchian shi, kyosuk lee, kai wang, ángel sánchez navarro, jaewoo lee, antonio luca coco, matteo artico and jaime domínguez balgoma

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

design development:
winy maas, jacob van rijs and nathalie de vries with wenchian shi, 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:
team: winy maas, jacob van rijs and nathalie de vries with wenchian shi, kyosuk lee, mafalda rangel, dong min lee

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