Continuing our look around…
Han River “Cruise”
The very wide Han river winds through the middle of Seoul. The map of the city with its central river superficially resembles London or Paris. But in fact, the river is huge, not at all the intimate experience of the Thames or the Seine. Nonetheless, we couldn’t resist the temptation to take a midday river “cruise.”
The walk from the subway stop to the pier took us through a nice river-side park. We were fortunate to have a beautiful sunny warm day for this outing. Along our park walk, we came upon this attractive fellow:
It’s the river monster from the Korean horror movie, The Host. It’s a movie that helped put Korean cinema on the global stage. It also unsubtly comments on incompetence and toxicity in modern society. Rather a nice little creature to let loose in a family-friendly park, yes?
Just beyond the river monster, we found our boat pier. We waited in line for a few minutes, gazing over quite a few retirees on a nice-day outing — including some who demonstrated the I’m-done-with-black-and-white attitude.
As soon as the boat pulled away from the dock, seagulls started clustering and flying by the side of the boat facing the river. They knew what was coming even before the passengers started tossing bread bits up to the birds. Lunch is served!
The bird buffet turned out to be the most interesting thing about the “cruise.” We had expected a couple hours up and down the river, including passing by Korea’s tallest skyscraper, the Lotte Tower. But no: after about 15 minutes, the boat turned around and returned to the pier — 30 minutes total. Not even close to the Lotte Tower. But that was OK. Despite the fact that it was a really beautiful day, the city skyline along the river is not that exciting. There are very few stand-out buildings or monuments along the Han River, at least where we were.
A River Runs Through It
The Han River is a true grand river. But there’s another, gentler, constructed stream that slips through the center of Seoul. This is the restored Cheongguecheon River, about 11 kilometers or 7 miles long. Almost all YouTube videos about what to enjoy in Seoul show people strolling and lolling along a gurgling brook. After days of walking all over the hard streets of the city, a green respite called to us.
A bit of history: In the 15th century, the Joseon Dynasty leaders of the time developed the stream to supply fresh water to the city inhabitants, and to remove sewage. After the Korean war in the early 1950s, the population of Seoul exploded; the stream, long unmanaged, deteriorated into a toxic mess. In the late 1950s, the city made the problem go away by paving over the stream. In the 1970s, they built an elevated highway over the paved stream. The highway may have served large-scale transportation needs, but its noisy and polluting presence ruined the livability and healthfulness of large swaths of the city.
In the early 2000s, the mayor of Seoul championed the removal of the highway, and the restoration of the stream. Among his many motivations was to evolve the city into a more eco-friendly future, to “green” up the city. Change on this scale incites huge political battles, but the mayor and his team succeeded. In the fall of 2005, Cheonggyecheon Stream reappeared and opened to the public. One source we found said, “In terms of the environment, the project’s success was astounding. Several species of birds, insects, and fish began to thrive in the park. The temperature surrounding the stream is cooled down substantially, which is a plus in humid summer months. Since the opening of the area, the traffic entering Seoul’s downtown has also decreased, which is beneficial for both the city’s traffic system and the air.”※
We explain all that because we found the new stream beautiful and delightful — an extraordinary complement to the rush and energy of the city. It’s always nice to go for a walk along a natural brook. Cheongguecheon River is unabashedly a constructed stream, but the pleasure is still there. The little river is both a natural environment and a huge work of art.
Striking Architecture
Here and there amid the bland, but large, corporate buildings, we found a few standouts.
Jongno Tower was designed by Rafael Viñoly Architects, and completed in 1999. It certainly calls attention to itself. To us it looks both futuristic and clunkily retro at the same time.
Jangchung Presbyterian Church was completed in 2011.
But one of the most striking and well-known recent buildings is the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, designed by the office of Zaha Hadid. Zaha Hadid and her office — sadly, she has passed away — are famous for voluptuously-curved foreground buildings.
The purpose for this urban-redevelopment project was to revive the district around the old Dongdaemun Stadium. The Japanese had built the stadium during their early-twentieth-century occupation. The stadium and the neighborhood around it had become decrepit, devolving into a slum. And the stadium continued to remind of a dark period of modern Korean history. The Seoul government decided in the 2000s to demolish the stadium and to establish the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a complex to house a center for the design and fashion industry and a history and culture park for citizens and visitors. The intervention has been successful: the development has become a tourist destination, and the neighborhood has come alive again.※
The scale, the shiny curves, the futurism, the grand spaces are great for photos! It’s fun to walk around too. But all the real activity is inside the space ships. We saw only a bit of that, including the D-Soop, a kind of lounge / coffee shop / exhibitions space…
…a little interior food street, and, of course, the design-y gift shop.
In the midst of the swoops of the buildings, we found a framed archeology zone: fascinating historical dissonance:
During the construction work of the park, remains and relics were unearthed, including Yigansumun Water Gate and Chiseong (the first defense facility found) of Seoul Fortress, 44 buildings sites from as early as the Joseon Dynasty including Hadogamteo Site (military training ground), and 1,000 relics including Joseon Baekja (white porcelain of the Joseon Dynasty) and Buncheong Sagi (grayish blue powdered ceramics) from the early Joseon dynasty through the Japanese colonial period. Dongdaemun History & Culture Park has a role almost akin to that of a historical culture theme park where one can see the living history of Seoul through exhibitions and events showcasing contemporary design and culture. It also serves as a resting area for the people. (source)
We absolutely enjoyed walking around and through the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. Rather like the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, there’s joy in landing in this kind of future world. Isn’t the best part of good architecture how it can make you pay attention and even transport you? Just like in Valencia, we wonder how the local residents use this complex.
Do its exhibitions and conferences and ateliers keep Seoul-ites coming back for more? Amid all the vast plazas, can one stop by for an outdoor lunch or an impromptu visit with friends? Does life across the street flow easily to and through the complex, or is the Plaza “That Place”? To us, it felt like a huge transit center — undeniably stimulating and attracting — but also encouraging us to keep on moving.