The Hankyoreh looks at the debate surrounding Myeong-dong’s 21-story Post Tower (called by some the “Mazinger Building,” after its resemblance to the Japanese anime), its seeming lack of regard for its surroundings, and its effect on the historic neighborhood of Namdaemun-no (see here for photos).
-
English Books on Korea... and More!
-
Visit My Brother's Film Review Site
23 Comments
I don’t know why, but that building somehow reminds me of Paul Bunyan.
I’m not an architectural expert, but the building doesn’t look too bad. At the least, whoever designed the building designed it with a concept in mind, instead of designing a simple faceless box.
effect, not affect
jonnyh — woops, my bad.
Anyone know the name of the architect?
Thanks
It’s actually a SPACE project. Who at SPACE designed it, however, I don’t know.
“its seeming lack of regard for its surroundings, and its effect on the historic neighborhood of Namdaemun-no”
As opposed to the other ugly 20-something floor buildings in the first picture?
Great looking building and an asset to the neighbourhood in my opinion.
#1 Yeah, it does look like Paul Bunyan took an axe to the top, splitting it right down the middle. It’s unfortunate the new building couldn’t recapture some of the beauty of the original colonial era post office - that was a cool looking building. Robert had pictures up of the old building a while back.
This issue largely depends upon many things, social and political.
Here is an interesting essay by Daniel Lebeskind, the architect, regarding the through behind developing the eastern half of Berlin. It is a very interesting read and gives one an idea of the consideration that goes into city planning (better Libeskind than me!)
It would be nice if Seoul had someone with vision in charge of city planning but it seems more like the collusion of money and happenstance to me.
You don’t work for SPACE, do you?
http://blog.naver.com/baramsho.....0001049216
Hard to bring buildings back from the dead, though.
To be honest I don’t think it looks that bad. I find it amazing that people are complaining about it - no one seems to complain as they rip the historical buildings down, and those who do complain are viewed as road bumps in the way of progress. I am sure that the few foreign cemeteries that still exist in Korea will soon go the same route - paved over with a beautiful twenty-story block-style building.
I also find it somewhat humerous that their complaint is it looks similar to something out of a Japanese Anime - just another reason to knock it down? Blame it on the Japanese
I like new buildings mixed with old. That’s what makes Seoul north of the Han so nice.
I AGREE WITH MINS!
The building looks nice. But the thing is.. they built it waaaay too fast. There is another one going up by me, i think it’s the kumho/asiana building, by kwangwhamun (next to 흥국생명빌딩). It is taller than the Post Tower, perhaps not as unique, but certainly a nice design. Like the Post Tower, however, it has gone up in less than 12 months. We’re talking a 20+ story building that has gone from hole in ground to all the glass on in about 8-9 months. Something’s not right there….
That’s a good point — the contrast between old and new can be quite stunning.
And, I should point out, there appear to be nice balconies that offer cool photo ops of the neighborhood.
#14.
That’s how construction companies here work. It takes them forever to prepare and dig up the ground for the foundation and the basements. But when they are done, it takes them merely months to put up the above ground floors. The reason for this may lie in the fact that the Korean construction companies drive their workers and subcons very hard (one day off per week, plus 15 hour days) in addition to the constant expediting of material deliveries to the point of threatening the material suppliers. But on the other hand cutting corners may be part of the equation.
#11.
Damn I’ve been outed!
I guess Koreans prefer “simple faceless boxes” over anything that looks different.
I think it looks pretty cool. Seoul could certainly use a plethora of more interesting buildings rather than the mass of faceless boxes it has now.
It takes them forever to prepare and dig up the ground for the foundation and the basements. But when they are done, it takes them merely months to put up the above ground floors.
I’ve been photographing the progress of an apartment building near my house from destruction of the old buildings in February until now, and it’s proceeded much as you say. It’s a small project with only one underground floor, and it took about half of the construction time before they began building above ground (it’s now rising one floor per week); I imagine larger ones must spend much, much longer on the basement.
#14/16: It seems to be a universal thing. The building here on east side of the Pacific Ocean that we’re planning on moving into next year took ages to get the foundation done. We figured the building would never get completed. Once they started on the first floor, however, building the remaining floors took no time at all. …And that’s despite the fact that booming China seems to have a lock on building supplies!
I couldn’t see the picture of the building on the linked Hani page. It’s a useful reminder, though, that Namdaemun-no is good for a north-south walking tour through the city, being more ancient than Taepyeongno-Sejongno, narrower (and therefore less unsightly to a pedestrian), and of as much—if not more—historical interest, what with the Bank of Korea, Post Office, department stores, and the Jonggak belfry.
As old as Sejongno (which led to Gyeongbok-gung), but much older than Taepyeongno. It was the main north-south artery in the city before the colonial government built Taepyeongno from Jongno Negeori south to Namdaemun.
There seemed to be some small streets following the Taepyeongno route before it was built (widened?) by the Japanese (around 1912 I think). I believe one of the reasons (besides ease of moving troops up from Yongsan) for building it was that many people used to congregate/protest in front of Deoksugung’s Daehanmun (gate) after it became the main gate (when Deoksugung was first built the south facing gate was the entrance). By turning the small streets into a major traffic artery, the Japanese could use this as an excuse to disperse crowds near the palace, especially after Gojong was deposed and basically held prisoner there for the rest of his life.