We're leading the redevelopment of Seoul Station Northern District

Henning Larsen’s design for the Seoul Station Northern District, a new development in the center of the South Korean capital city, has been named the winner an invited international competition.

The scheme will add a vast mixed-use destination to the area surrounding Seoul’s central station – an area that, while central, is largely disconnected. Seoul Valley will integrate the retail, café, and green spaces attractive to pedestrians with office, residential, and hotel program.

“With Seoul Valley, we were interested in developing a scheme that merged the outsized scale of the city today with the personal, patchwork structures of its past. By dissolving the scale at the public levels to something that feels more personal, we not only make it feel more livable, but nod towards the beautiful structures of the city’s past,” says Jakob Kurek, Partner at Henning Larsen.

Humanizing an urban rail and highway corridor

Cut off from the city by the rail yards and an eight-lane freeway, the site for Seoul Valley is ideally situated for a new urban development due to its central location and nearby pedestrian opportunities. Our winning design breaks the towering scale of Seoul down into pieces digestible at the human-scale and weaves green space into the urban experience.

 “For the past half-decade Seoul has been actively working to revitalize its urban fabric, focusing on the spaces between buildings and the pedestrian links. This scheme provides needed amenities to the center while foregrounding the pedestrian/public experience,” said Kurek.  As the first major project to be implemented in the city’s redevelopment plan for the area, Seoul Valley will set a significant precedent for future development.

Henning Larsen + Siaplan’s proposal bested competitor teams MVRDV + Gansam and SOM +Junglim.