Seoul looks for opera house designers

Seoul officials said yesterday they are seeking “creative designs” from professional and amateur architects worldwide to build the city’s future opera house on an artifical island in the Han River.
The international idea competition for Seoul’s future opera house, concert auditorium and symphony hall on Nodeul Island started last Wednesday, officials from the organizing committee for the Seoul Performing Arts Center said.
The committee says the facility will consist of a 1.5-hectare (3.7-acre) state-of-the-art complex. Plans are to build it on Nodeul Island by 2009.
There is no permanent facility on Nodeul Island at present except for several outdoor tennis courts. The island is located across from Mapo, and can be reached only by vehicles crossing the Hangang Bridge, which intersects the center of the island.
For easier public access to the island, however, the Seoul city government is planning to build a new subway line to reach the island, and start a ferry service.
In March, the city bought the island for 27.4 billion won ($27.4 million) from Kunyoung, a housing corporation. Seoul Mayor Lee Myung-bak had announced earlier that he wanted his city to have a cultural complex like that of Copenhagen’s Opera House or Carnegie Hall in New York.
Guidelines for the competition will be released next Monday, with the deadline for registration by June 10. The winner will be announced at the end of July, officials said.

by Lee Min-a