Hongik University is building the largest underground campus in Korea, the size of 14 soccer fields (100,000 square meters). With a related budget of 441 billion won, it is the largest project since the school opened in 1946. As it became difficult to expand the campus due to various regulations, high land prices, and narrow sites, it was decided to build the largest underground campus by actively utilizing the underground space. Along with this, a blueprint for the ‘New Hongik Project’ was presented to tear down the fence and connect the entire school to Hongdae Street.
◆”We make art, design base”According to Hongik University on the 21st, the school has been promoting the ‘New Hongik Project’ since last March to build a complex with 6 floors below ground and up to 16 floors above ground. The main building will be located in an underground space that runs from the main entrance of the school to the main playground. The underground campus (100,000㎡) and the ground campus (40,000㎡) are equivalent to 20 soccer fields. It is more than twice the size of Ewha Womans University Ewha Campus Complex (ECC, total floor area: 66,000㎡), the largest underground campus in Korea.
Various facilities related to the fields of art, design, and architecture, such as an art museum, library, lecture halls, and industry-academia cooperation institutions, will be built in this building. To this end, Hongik University has published an architectural design announcement targeting famous domestic and foreign architects, and a design proposal will be released in October. Construction is expected to begin in 2025 and be completed in 2029. A total project cost of 441 billion won is invested.
Ahead of the construction of the underground campus, the ‘Art and Design Valley’ is scheduled to be completed next month. Among the alleyways famous for the ‘Hongdae Mural Street’, the wall on the school side was demolished and made. The buildings are in a long line, about 250m long, like a castle wall. Starting in October, 72 design start-up workshops, pop-up stores and galleries will be opened. The idea is to connect the Art & Design Valley with the underground space during the underground campus construction process.
◆ ‘Underground’ due to regulations and high land pricesThe reason메이저사이트 why Hongik University started building a large-scale underground campus is because it is not easy to expand the campus due to floor area ratio and height regulations. Hongik University currently uses 99.8% of the available floor area ratio. The height of the building cannot be built too high due to the school’s height limit (78m).
Even if the necessary space is created, there is no room for new construction and expansion. The Seoul Metropolitan Government came up with a plan to increase the floor area ratio at the end of last year, but it is judged that this is also not sufficient.
Although the basement floor is expensive to develop, it is not included in the floor area ratio. Lee Hyeon-ho, dean of Hongik University’s College of Architecture and Urbanism, said, “There are 14 buildings that are over 50 years old in the school, but remodeling is not feasible due to various regulations. After developing the underground campus, we will find ways to utilize the old buildings.”
Expensive land prices around the campus are also a factor that makes it difficult to expand the campus. Most of the Hongik University area is a type 2 general residential area that is regulated to have a floor area ratio of less than 200%, and the land price is expensive because of the active commercial district. A nearby real estate official pointed out, “It is impossible to expand the campus by purchasing land one by one.”
For this reason, major universities in downtown Seoul, such as Hongik University, are putting their efforts into developing underground campuses. In 2002, Korea University created Korea’s first underground campus called ‘Central Square’ on the Anam Campus. Ewha Womans University and Sogang University built underground campuses in 2008, and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 2011.An official from Ewha Womans University said, “ECC is also an alternative devised by various regulations,” and “helped solve the problem of lack of facilities such as classrooms.” Yonsei University also expanded its campus underground through the ‘Baekyang-ro Underground Campus’ at the main gate.