This 2006 Time Magazine article about Lee Myung-bak and the greening of Seoul had this quote:
Kim Won Bae of KRIHS tells the story of visiting Shanghai and meeting a Chinese urban planner who had a burning question: how many 100-m-high or taller buildings did Seoul have? "I asked her why she asked that," he says. "She was still in the age of triumphalism. Seoul was once in that period as well, but we have passed it."
This Chosun Ilbo article, titled "Construction of Asia's Tallest Building Starts", suggests otherwise:
The construction of the world's second tallest building starts in Seoul on Friday. The ground-breaking ceremony for the 133-story skyscraper tentatively called the DMC Landmark Tower will be held at Digital Media City in Sangam-dong, northwestern Seoul. Construction is to be complete in 2015.
Built on a 37,280 sq.m plot, the ultra high-riser will stand 640 m tall, the world's second tallest after the 160-story, 818m Burj Dubai being built by Korean developer Samsung C&T in the United Arab Emirates.
The DMC Landmark Tower will be 8 m taller than China's Shanghai Dragon, to be completed in 2014, becoming Asia's tallest building.
The 133rd floor of the DMC Landmark Tower will house an observatory 540 m off the ground, 66 m higher than the observatory of the Shanghai World Financial Center. The skyscraper will house a hotel, broadcasting facility, apartments, offices, a department store and a shopping mall.
In other words, "Up yours, Shanghai!" (And Taipei, and Hong Kong and...) Why this is being built in Sangam Digital Media City (currently in the middle of nowhere, though the Incheon Airport Subway line may change that) behind the old Nanji-do garbage dump (currently 'Sky Park'), I'm not sure. I guess it'll give visitors to the Korean Film Archives something to look at...
6 comments:
If I may, I'd like to comment about the DMC.
I live in the DMC and while it's in the far west, it's just 10 minutes by bus from Hongdae and has good subway/bus routes.
World Cup Stadium (with shopping and movie theater) and WC Park are within walking distance.
There's a lot that's been built there since you last visited, I think.
It was mostly under construction when I saw it last. Is it connected to line 6? I guess it's not so far away, but it's still pretty isolated, cut off by Sky Park and the railway.
The main question is, is there any reason for the tallest building in Asia to be built there? What's the attraction? And what exactly does 'digital media city' mean? Is it just a slogan or is there something to it?
Erectophile dysfunction.
Oh, and Dubai is in Asia, which means this is still the second tallest building in Asia upon completion.
hahahahha...nice one Kushibo! Luv it!!!
I guess you look up to avoid looking around you at how horrible the rest of Seoul is. C'mon. If they really gave a crap about people, they would deal with population density issues. They don't, so it's all just a huge corporate pissing contest. It's located down the road from another white elephant: the Seoul World Cup Stadium. How long until they turn this monstrosity into a shopping centre, too?
It looks silly when in an urban setting with relatively low-rise buildings u see just one single super tall building or when as in Seongdo u see a few skyscrapers scattered about...
Whereas in New York New York you got tall buildings streets after streets
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