New Gwanghwamun Square
Seoul, South Korea
In collaboration with MMK+ architects, Supermass Studio’s entry for The New Gwanghwamun Square International Design Competition was entitled “Millions of Places for Millions of People.” The proposal conceives the new square to be a continuum of various urban activities where everybody who visits has their own reasons to do so and where monumentality coexists with everyday life. Within this frame, the square may transform into many things, to a park, a passage, or back into a square. The proposal provides an unobstructed flat surface for maximum programming flexibility and viewsheds of the nearby mountains, as well as creating multiple lateral connections with nearby open spaces. It also realigns a myriad of existing fragmented underground programs that serve the adjacent buildings with a new vertical integration that generates a diversity of experiences related to the square.