The 7th Phase of the Seoul Urban Landscape Archiving Project

Since 1995, the Seoul Urban Landscape Archiving Project has been conducted every five years to systematically document the city’s evolving landscape through photography. The archive embraces the past, present, and envisioned future of Seoul’s urban environment.

To date, the project has amassed more than 35,000 photographs, capturing the dynamic transformation of the city’s key landscape elements―including its mountains, rivers, urban districts, and sites of historical and cultural significance.

The work presented at the 5th Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism features photographic documentation of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)―one of Seoul’s most iconic architectural landmarks and a vivid symbol of the city’s urban transformation.

Built between 2009 and 2014 on the former site of the Dongdaemun Stadium, the DDP is the world’s largest three-dimensional non-Euclidean architectural structure, designed by world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid.

The Seoul Urban Landscape Archiving Project has captured the full timeline of this transformation: from the final days of the Dongdaemun Stadium, to the foundation work of DDP, through its construction phase, and finally to the present-day DDP―now a global architectural destination visited by countless tourists.

This work stands as a compelling example of how the recorded past and lived present can help us envision the future city of Seoul.

Every city holds its own memories. Upon those memories, the present stands―and upon the present, the future will be built.

The Seoul Urban Landscape Archiving Project is a devoted journey through the layers of memory, transformation, time, and space that define the city of Seoul.