Refer Report
The Riverside Hotel, which opened in 1981 as the first luxury hotel in Gangnam in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, is being transformed into a 47-story (270m) landmark hotel. Using the design that won the Seoul City Urban Architecture Design Competition, it will be reborn as a tourist attraction with green space in the city center.
Seoul City announced on the 2nd that it has concluded the final pre-negotiations for the complex development of the Riverside Hotel site (6,491.9㎡) in Jamwon-dong, Seocho-gu and prepared the ‘Riverside Hotel Development Plan’. Construction is expected to begin next year, and a 47-story landmark along the Han River, including a hotel and officetels, is expected to open as early as 2028. A hotel (57,342㎡), hotel facilities (24,464㎡), and officetels (34,400㎡) are planned for the building with a total floor area of 112,246㎡.
The city of Seoul expects that this development project will create a representative tourist attraction in the area, including Sinsa Station and Jamwon and Banpo Hangang Park. The target site is located at the southern end of Hannam Bridge, which connects Gangnam and Buk, and the gateway to the Gyeongbu Expressway. The plan is to have abundant green space on the lower floors and a world-class hotel on the upper floors.
This is the first project to which all three incentives included in the ‘Plan to Improve the Pre-Negotiation System’ will be applied. Urban architecture design innovation projects, carbon zero, and tourism accommodation incentives will be applied. The maximum floor area ratio will be determined within 1023%.
A public contribution plan worth a total of 149.2 billion won was also included through prior negotiations. Through public contributions, the facility green space (2,166.7㎡) designated as a buffer green space along the Gyeongbu Expressway in 1978 was donated and accepted, connecting the green space that had been separated from the hotel section. The longest green space axis in Gangnam will be completed in about 50 years.
The green space in this section has been left unconnected and unexecuted, with only the section owned by the hotel remaining unconnected. The landowners have agreed with the city to donate the land as soon as the district unit plan is decided. The plan is to renovate the old senior center for local residents and, after the business plan is specified and the feasibility review process is completed, to reflect the installation of a direct ramp from Gyeongbu Expressway to Gangnam-daero and a public parking lot.
The Riverside Hotel site will be built by raising the building to a height of over 25m (approximately 7 stories) leaving only a minimal lobby area on the lower floors of the building, thereby bringing in green space. It will apply an innovative design that will create a green forest of approximately 6,500㎡ in the heart of Gangnam. The design was done by UIA’s Wi Jin-bok, who won the grand prize at the 42nd Seoul Architecture Awards this year.
In order to create an attractive Hangang River skyline, some parts of the 280m high-rise building will have a cantilever structure that sticks out like wings, making it look like it’s floating in the air. The exterior will be diverse, with block-shaped façade designs and more. The upper floors of the building will also feature a sky lounge and garden café, as well as other spaces with a view of the Hangang River that can be used by not only hotel guests but also citizens.
The Riverside Hotel site, which has been considered an ‘island’ in the city, has been greatly improved in terms of accessibility and openness to the surrounding area so that local residents can visit and use it more conveniently. The existing high retaining wall will be demolished, and visual openness will be secured so that public notices can be easily recognized from the outside. In order to increase connectivity between the low-rise urban forest and the surrounding area, improvements to the pedestrian environment such as the creation of public pedestrian walkways and the expansion of pedestrian paths will also be carried out.
The plan will be finalized through a decision notice in the second half of this year after completing the public notice for inspection within this month and going through deliberation by the Urban Architecture Joint Committee. Construction is scheduled to begin next year, with completion targeted for 2028.
Lim Chang-soo, the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Director of Future Space Planning, said, “The site of the Riverside Hotel, which was a hit in its time, has taken the first step toward being reborn as a landmark representing Gangnam,” and “We will faithfully pursue innovation in urban architectural design that will convey the city’s charm and emotion to domestic and foreign visitors to Seoul.”
Reporter Jinwoo Park jwp@hankyung.com
Source: Korean