NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

PROJECT INFORMATION
Designer: Rem Koolhaas.
Location: Seoul, Korea.
Date: 1995.

Design: 1995.

Construction: 2000.
Surface: 58 ha.
Program:

Residential area.

High tech area.

Research and development.

Financial centre.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

POSITION OF THE PROJECT IN THE CITY

The New Seoul International Airport project will be the new starting point for the city. This
will act as an important worldwide centre which integrate natural beauty, ecological interest,
and infrastructural potential.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

KEY IMAGES
The first image showed that the impact of the project as a hub to connect to other places
in the world. The second image describes that the project would be the new face of Seoul
connecting Inchon to Seoul and the site. Finally, the last image represents the overlapping
of the programme to increase the diversity of the project as well as to corporate with the
natural landscape.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

DESIGN STRATEGY
Due to the location of Airport City, the project needs to be a combination between natural
and artificial in order to create simultaneously an airport and a city with infrastructural effort.
With the city scale strategy, the project acts as a place to link all major zone around the
world because it is an airport city.
On the site scale strategy, the project will be divided into programmatic bands by dealing
with the existing. With this, the overlapping will be appeared and created mixture conditions
and programmatic layers.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

THE OPEN SPACE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT

Since the project didnt have the specific type of the open space, it can only be assumed
that the project has four type of open space based on four main programs of the project.
The four type are residential open space (private gardens, collective green spaces, and
small parks), international open space (large open space and square), high tech open space
(private parks and courtyards) and urban parks. As can be seen from the diagram, despite
the high density of the city, it still has reserved some open space for the people. Finally, the
natural area, as well as the park, also have some infrastructure to gain people access and
enjoy them.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

THE PROJECT IN THE SURROUNDING URBAN FABRIC

As can be seen from the four sections, the highest point of the city is in the middle of the
island. This is the main spine of the project as it is the main roads to connect to city and the
airport as well as the polder city. Since the project is located on the virgin island, the only
existing context is the natural land surround the rectangle shape of the project and two others small islands. Through the urban sections, it showed the hybrid between what artificial
of the project created compared to what natural things of the island offered.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE PROJECT

The possibility of the project depends on the infrastructure a lot because before the projects
there is no connection between the islands and the mainland through cars. The project created two main street to connected the island to the old as well as the airport and the polder
city. However, based on the analysis, the effort of creating infrastructure mainly benefits the
airport.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

THE VOLUMETRIC COMPOSITION OF THE PROJECT

There are four types of the volumetric logic of the project. The first one is the business and
financial centre, these would be the highest point in the project and the densest volume
because it near the main road that connected to the airport and the old city. The second
one is residential, the buildings are lower a lot compared to the business area. The house is
smaller, more spaces and merge with the landscape. The third and last ones are high techs
and harbor, these are less the same characteristics, the height, and volume. All the house
are aligned with the harbor to create connection towards it.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

PROGRAMMATIC DIVERSITY
The site of the project is shaped into the rectangle and it is divided into programmatic bands
which there are eight bands total. These bands are distorted by dealing with the harsh conditions of the island so that these bands could be general about the shape but differences
in functions. With this process, overlapping of the bands happens mixture of conditions and
layer of the program. Hence, it created the city looks like something made out of coincidences based on the historical aspects of the site, but in fact, purposely by man.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

BUILDING TYPES
With the amount of infrastructure created by the project, something must be presented to
connected all the liveliness created by the traffic flow. These are superstructures which located at the intersections of the main roads. With this, people are stimulated to use public
transportation and program in the neighborhood. There is three main location of this superstructures, the north one is linked to the others connected islands and the harbor to create
a neighborhood of residential and commercial and transportation exchanges to the harbor
and the south one to linked to the Inchon to enhance public transportation and spaces. The
last one is near the airport to create an economic centre to improve activities and traffic.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

TRANSITION PUBLIC - PRIVATE

The section showed three area of the project: the mix-used area of residential, high-tech
and research & development, the mix-used area of residential and business and the area
of business next to the environmental and cultural places. As can be seen from the section, the transition between the high tech area and the residential is mostly from a public
place to private. It is because these places are restricted to the public due to its functions.
Also inside the neighborhood, there is some semi-public space that provides not only for
the residential but also for the tourists. The business area is also the semi-public space
because the ground floor is for commercial.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

VARIABLE AND INVARIABLE

There are two things that are invariable for the project. This can be changed without affect
the quality of the project.
The first thing is how the project is shaped, it is a rectangle shape with five finger rectangle
shape of the harbor and the surrounding is the irregular shape. This is made to show the
hybrid of the project, there is a distinction between the artificial of the project and the natural of the island. The project wants to create an international hub for the city but also not to
destroy the quality of the landscape of the island offered.
The second thing is programmatic of the project, this is also what make the project hybrid as
already explained in the program section of this booklet.
Finally, all others things can be variable depends on what the client and the residents want
for their future city.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

New Seoul International Airport is one of the biggest undertaken projects of Seoul which is
turning a virgin island into the most modern airport along with the most modern city. Therefore, this project will become the important place in Seoul to connect to other areas in the
world. The project site is in the perfect condition for urban designer/planner because it offered the freedom. It is shown that with skill and knowledge, man can reinvent the urban
condition in the 21st century. However, in order to that, it must require extra effort on the
infrastructure such as creating connectivity towards the city center and clearing the lands for
construction. The site is in the special location where there is a mixture of natural and nonnatural to create a new combination of beauty in efficiency. With that in mind, the urban designer has shaped the site into the rectangle and it is divided into programmatic bands which
there are eight bands total. These bands are distorted by dealing with the harsh conditions
of the island so that these bands could be general about the shape but differences in functions. With this process, overlapping of the bands happens mixture of conditions and layer of
the program. Hence, it created the city looks like something made out of coincidences based
on the historical aspects of the site, but in fact, purposely by man.
There are three things that consider being the qualities of the project. The first thing is about
urbanism, to create the site as the hub for the city, there must be an edge for a new city and
the mainland to create a consistency in seafront development and urban sprawl of Seoul
metropolitan. Hence, the creation of three bars: the city, the harbor and the polder city
with a different program but combined making it harmonious with the development of the
city toward the west. The second thing is the transportation, the design of the infrastructure
network also carefully considered to enhance the site as the global hub. Therefore, the main
street system has been re-routed towards the coastline to reduce the traffic flow between
the new development of the site and the link to the airport. The third and the final thing is the
concept of airport city, in the attempt to provide the hybridity and complexity in the project.
The process of creating the overlapping bands where multiple functional programs can be
at the same spot. The manipulation of these bands slowly created many possibilities for the
city.
However, there are one thing that this project have is the transferia, it has been introduced
in order to collect the energy from the streets and transfer it into the area so that the people
can be more involved in the area. But with these superstructures, it creates a huge contrast
with the small buildings of the residential area. At first, it can seem to be interesting with, but
it makes the people feeling so small and breathless from the inside compared to the outside.
In conclusion, despite small drawback, the New Seoul International Airport is still a welldeveloped project not only revolutionize the thinking of the urbanists at this time but also
provide the metropolitan the new world city.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

PROJECTS OF REFERENCE
These projects have the same kind of concept with New Seoul International Airport project
which is Airport City. Two projects above also want to achieve what the New Seoul want to
achieve that is created the most modern city inside the most modern airport. These project
will also serve as the gateway to connect to others area worldwide. Finally, the Airport City
concept also presented the hybrid design which combined the natural beauty of the landscape with the artificial of the airport and commercial buildings around.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

PROJECT INFORMATION
Desinger: KCAP.
Location: Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands.
Date: 2009.

Design: 2009

Construction: 2010 - present.
Surface: 82 ha.
Program:

Commercial area.

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

PROJECT INFORMATION
Desinger: KCAP
Location: Dublin, Ireland.
Date: 2013.

Design: 2013.

Construction: 2013 - present.
Surface: 30 ha.
Program:

Business centre.

Office.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

POSITION OF THE PROJECT IN THE CITY

The relationship of both reference projects with the city is the same with the main project
which is both projects are introduced as the new beginnings of the city. Because these are
airport so it is really far from the city center. The only differences with the main project are
the context and the scale of those projects.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

KEY IMAGES
All the projects designers have visualized for what they think will happen to their projects in
the future. All the projects will develop into the international commercial hubs that will serve
the needs not only for the people in the city but also for the people outside of the city.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

DESIGN STRATEGY
Despite the similarities in the concept, but the design strategy of the three projects are different because of the differences in the context of them. The Schiphol Airport City project
wants to create an airport corridor that enhanced the public transportation as well as integrating the project into the landscape. The Dublin Airport City project wants to create a
commercial district through that to provide the green space continuity to connect the airport
and the district.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE OPEN SPACE STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECTS

Three both have many kinds of open space due to their diverse program. The New Seoul
Internation Airport project and Dublin Airport City project seems to have common scheme
about the open space. These open spaces are green spaces usually for the residential and
office area. And for the Schipol Airport City, the open spaces are mostly used for a parking
lot for the airport and offices, only the small amount of land used for the green spaces because these site contained hotels or commercial area.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE PROJECT IN THE SURROUNDING URBAN FABRIC

From the section, the main project is different from the others project in terms of buildings
height and open space. The Schiphol Airport City project have a lot of open space mostly
for the parking lot, the buildings height are not too contrast to each other. The Dublin Airport
City project is more compact like the main project, have a lot of semi-public space in between buildings. Because all three projects are airport city projects, so that the surrounding
these areas are always natural landscape or water.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE PROJECT

From the morphology of the three projects, it can be seen that there is only one way to access
to the airport, but there are multiple roads to access to the international business center near
it. This was purposely designed in order to harness the traffic coming through the site.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE PROJECT

The public transportation system of three projects all have same rule is that to provide the
easiest route to commercial area near the airport and also the airport itself.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE ACCESSIBILITY OF THE PROJECT

Due to the fact that the Schiphol Airport City project have a lot of space for parking. Hence,
it didnt need additional smaller scale road system like others two projects. Basically, the
scheme is that they all have one or two main access roads, as going further inside the area
the more infrastructure it will have.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

THE VOLUMETRIC COMPOSITION OF THE PROJECT

Two references projects didnt have the area of highest point unlike the New Seoul International Airport project in the site due to their strategy. The Schiphol Airport City all have similar
height compare to the airport, the highest buildings are about 8 stories. This is because all
the buildings are mostly for the commercial and offices. Some of them are higher than the
others because they are hotels. Also, the buildings near the parks are the highest. The Dublin Aiport City project, the highest zone is in the office zone, the others are lower.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

DIVERSITY
Three projects all have diversity in their program, but only the New Seoul International Airport have something different which is the overlapping of the program. Others two projects
have the exact zoning for that program and these zoning are based on the history of the site.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

TRANSITION PUBLIC - PRIVATE

Unlike the main project, the space between the buildings of these reference project often is
public due to the fact that they are usually offices.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

NEW SEOUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT CITY

DUBLIN AIRPORT CITY

VARIABLE AND INVARIABLE

Because of the status of the main project, the site didnt develop base on anything, but the
other projects are. Both references projects are developed through time based on the existing open spaces.
URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

CONCLUSION
With this paper, the general design challenge is the concept of an airport city. This concept
has been all over Europe for more than 10 years. The above projects are one of the first
project based on this idea. In the 1980s, the idea was first presented as advertisements for
the tourists to stay conveniently and all the wage from the shops was to supplement the
expenses from the terminal and parking charges. Since that time, the idea has evolved to
present the rule for the spatial development on the airports land. This has made a conflict
between the authorities and the airport with respect to the advantages of an Airport City.
To make an airport city, it is very important to follow the rule of spatial criteria and it is must
not be underestimated by any chances. The design of an airport has increasingly difficult
throughout the years due to the fact that the airport functions is not just simply a traffic point.
In any case, an airport city is not just the development of a city. An airport city is a hybridity
and complexity development.
With this model of Airport City, the project can address other similar design of an airport such
as the spatial aspects, the diversity programmatic or the infrastructure scheme.
The three projects mentioned above are similar in many aspects such as their location in
the city, diversity in the program, the scheme of accessibility... but they all have the same
concept of design. The strategy of them all makes the city inside or near the airport area
which is the airport city concept. This concept is to use the area of the airport more than
what it really is and create a new development near the airport. Back in the day, the airport
is usually outside the city and there is only emptiness surrounding the airport. But now, with
the new thinking, they want to make the airport as the new the beginning of the city by making the new city inside the airport. Hence, the successful of this model, it is applied to New
Seoul International Airport, Schiphol Airport City, Dublin Airport City and many more similar
projects. All three projects are based on the same model, but they took the different strategy
in addressing the problems of the site and the way the implemented it.
For the Seoul International Airport, since it is an abandoned island, to make the project possible it have to establish a series of infrastructure. With the others project, the infrastructure
already presents when the new proposal come up. Besides the infrastructure, the Seoul
International Airport project has a different kind of programmatic. This is what makes it so
special compared to the others. With the irregular shape of the city and through the major
works of lands clearing, the designer shaped the city geometrically. On account of that, the
urban planner has molded the site into the rectangle and it is partitioned into bands which
there is eight bands total in which four of them are an addition. These bands are mutilated
by managing the cruel states of the island so that these groups could be general about the
shape, however, contrasts in capacities. With this procedure, overlapping of the groups happens to create a blend of conditions and layer of the system. Subsequently, it made the city
looks like something made out of occurrences taking into account the historical parts of the
site, yet truth be told, intentionally by man.
For the Schiphol Airport City, the strategy is to create an airport corridor that enhanced the
public transportation as well as integrating the project into the landscape. Hence, it assesses many distinctive improvements to shape the future development of the project, so it
can tackle the decision and policy making easily. The project is a reinforcing and the extension of the Airport Corridor, an improvement zone between the airport and the Amsterdam
city. With this vision, the project is considered as zen garden. The urban model of the
zen garden makes an unmistakable and composed spatial system for the advancement of

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

Schiphol, while in the meantime an adaptability is kept up that can respond to unanticipated
circumstances without the loss of introduction and spatial.
For the Dublin Airport City project propose to make a green lung of the network - an eastwest spine of value open space and shielded but link with the activities of the airport. The
project provides clusters of flexible buildings along the green lung in order to benefit the
quality of this public green space.
In addition, the most interesting features in the New Seoul International Airport project is the
programmatic bands and the way the designer make them overlap each other to create the
hybridity and complexity in the project. However, there are one thing that this project have
is the transferia, it has been introduced in order to collect the energy from the streets and
transfer it into the area so that the people can be more involved in the area. But with these
superstructures, it creates a huge contrast with the small buildings of the residential area. At
first, it can seem to be interesting with, but it makes the people feeling so small and breathless from the inside compared to the outside.
To put it briefly, the chosen project may have some disadvantages or uninteresting aspects,
but it didnt make it a worse project. The project has discovered something that none others
project found out that an airport has more functions than what it already is. And with the chosen project, it changed the way urbanists in the 21st century at the brink of changes through
the hybridity and complexity of the project. Consequently, through that to make the concept
of airport city stronger and it can be applicable anywhere in the world.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

MAARCH - ARCHITECTURE.LANDSCAPE.URBAN DESIGN

Project: Masterplan Dilbeek
Question: The masterplan of Dilbeek have many strategies in terms of the environment,
public space and on top of this is traffic. So the strategy is to ban the traffic from the city center to make this city a five minutes, so I want to ask if there are any suggestions regarding
the parking policy can be made to make this happen?
Project: Europan 10 - Konstantin Recycle City
Question: From the internet, I see that there are three strategies for this including reducing
ecological footprint, energy & ecological devices and permeability. Can you explain to me
more about this and how all of this work together? For example, reducing the ecological
footprint, on what scale of the lifestyle of the people affects on the footprint. Like how many
urban structures need to be demolished, what measures can be taken into account to create
a one world as the slogan of the project said?

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

SYSTEMIC DESIGN - LANDSCAPE TRANSITION

Through the analysis of the city, Ca Mau have the most dominant elements which are the
productive landscape. It surrounds the city, but with the expansion of the urban fabric with
any guidances. It has created the messy block and leave a lot of vacant land inside this area.
In addition, the linear development of the city along the main regional roads showed that
there is a disconnection between urban fabric and landscape. Consequently, the transition
idea was introduced not only to resolve the existing problems but also enhance the living
condition through many programs such as recreational, ecological, cultural and new living
environment. In order for that to happen, a set of rule needs to be carried out to ensure that
the transition from the high-density urban fabric to the vast productive landscape smoothly.

EXISTING URBAN PARK

ABANDONED LAND

The general idea is to create a development of the city to follow the main regional streets
and to connect with the surrounding landscape. Hence, it will create the hierarchy of street
system, maintain the identity of Ca Mau and increase the public space for the city. City scale
proposal shows the arrow-like shape of urban fabric giving a smooth transition from urban
to landscape and opposite direction. Renovating the vacant land to give more open space
and green space for people. The main structural idea is based on the hierarchy of street and
space. Local level streets will be developed connecting with the city level street, dead-end
street lead to the building, only pedestrian and bike have a massive network connecting all
open space and urban agricultural field.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

Moving on to the site scale, the existing green structure shows the variety in green types
which give the potential for transform them into new green open spaces. Besides that, the
site have important infrastructure of the city which are cultural center, sport complex, Lam
Vien Park, Ho Chi Minh Temple arranged from inside to the river. That is an obvious potential to connect all those facilities with the river, enhance the identity of a river city. In the site,
the landscape strategy continue with the enhancement of existing green structure, lead the
green body penetrate more to the urban fabric. Vacant lands are renovated into new public
spaces while new neighborhood is based on the mosaic model with the balance between
the open green space and building.

More detail in the plan, the open spaces have various way to design based on the existing
condition and the situation of the space in relation with surrounding landscape and building.
Moreover, each small area needs to have enough kind of open space following the mosaic
strategy. The buildings also various because of the different in condition: commercial axis,
riverside, landscape front, open space front. High-density tower and the apartment will stand
along the commercial axis and the street connecting with the river. The low rise apartments
and row houses in the residential area. The riverside apartment has different typology.

MINERAL

NON-MINERAL

WATER

HALF MINERAL

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES

In conclusion, the systemic design is innovative thinking in design which focuses on the systematic and human-centred design. And it is presented in the project Landscape Transition
through the systematic implementation of the mosaic pattern into the linear development of
the city to create a transitional zone. Hence, this makes the urban sprawl less problematic
due to having to think about the spatial quality. This model of transition can be applied anywhere in Ca Mau as long as it follows the same rule. In addition, it also ensures that it can
use up all the potential of the landscape surround while giving the people the identity of Ca
Mau inside their neighborhood.

URBAN DESIGN STRATEGIES