'Seoul Station Plaza Offers View of Namsan'... 143m-High Hilton Redevelopment Approved

The Hilton Hotel located in Jung-gu, Seoul, which has been in operation for over 40 years since its completion in 1983, will be redeveloped in a direction that does not obstruct the view of Namsan.

Hilton Hotel bird's-eye view example. [Image provided by Seoul City]

On the 23rd, Seoul City announced that it held the 5th Urban Planning Committee Subcommittee the previous day and approved a revised plan for the “Hilton Hotel (Yangdong District Zone 4-2·7) Urban Maintenance-type Redevelopment Project Maintenance Plan Decision Change.”

The site in question is the Hilton Hotel site located between Seoul Station and Namsan, where the maintenance plan was established by comprehensively considering the location characteristics, surrounding conditions, and utilization of existing buildings.

The existing Yangdong District was unable to provide a view of Namsan despite being the first landscape seen from Seoul Station Plaza due to already completed buildings. Therefore, this maintenance plan was designed to improve this by planning the building layout with consideration for the Namsan view.

Currently, the only viewpoint to see Namsan from Seoul Station is along Huam-ro, but through this plan, an additional view corridor from the north side of Seoul Station extending from Namdaemun Church to Namsan will be secured, allowing a new perspective of Namsan.

In addition to Namsan, considering the Hanyangdoseong (Seoul City Wall) and the historical and cultural environment preservation area located near the site, high-rise buildings are planned to be placed outside the preservation area. To preserve historical value, the architectural significance of the existing Hilton Hotel was taken into account, preserving the hotel’s main lobby in its original form and repurposing it.

Pedestrian accessibility from Seoul Station to Namsan will also be improved. To overcome the site’s topographical elevation differences and implement a pedestrian axis leading to Namsan, plans include securing pedestrian convenience facilities and green pedestrian corridors. Escalators will be installed within the zone to enhance pedestrian convenience for accessing Namsan, and a multi-layered access route connecting a small park, retail facilities, and open green spaces will be planned to provide indoor-outdoor linked civic activity spaces.

The main points of the maintenance plan include the introduction of open green spaces, creation of the Yangdong Forest Path pedestrian walkway, and provision ratio of public facilities, determining the building density as ▲ Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 1079% or less ▲ Building Coverage Ratio of 50% or less ▲ Height of 143 meters or less. Land and buildings will be donated to establish a tourism hub base. The architectural plan includes a height of 142.8 meters with one office building, one tourism accommodation facility, and retail facilities planned.

In particular, a large-scale retail facility accessible through the existing Hilton’s main lobby is planned so that citizens can experience new spaces along with the place identity of the existing Hilton Hotel. Indoor resting spaces directly connected to the outdoor central open green space will be arranged so that anyone can freely use the indoor and outdoor spaces of the site.

A Seoul city official said, “We envision overall spatial improvements for the zone that actively consider the locational characteristics connecting Seoul Station and Namsan, and expect this to contribute to revitalizing the city center and enhancing urban competitiveness by restoring effective publicness for citizens.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.