After a century of reinvention, Nodeul Island faces another transformation

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After a century of reinvention, Nodeul Island faces another transformation

Published: 10 Nov. 2025, 07:00

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A bird's eye render of Nodeul Island at night once Heatherwick Studio's ″Soundscape″ plan has been realized [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Of all the targets for redevelopment by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, few have experienced as many fits and halts as Nodeul Island, a small artificial island in the middle of the Han River that the city is now transforming into what it anticipates will be a “global cultural landmark.”

The 370.4 billion won ($259 million) “Nodeul Global Art Island” project, which is being led by British architect Thomas Heatherwick and is due for completion in 2028, will add new walkways and elevated gardens to the existing cultural complex on the island’s western end.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, left, and British architect Thomas Heatherwick disembark from a Hangang Bus ferry to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for the ″Nodeul Global Art Island″ project at Nodeul Island on Oct. 21. [NEWS1]

The plan by Heatherwick, who designed Coal Drops Yard in London and the Vessel in New York, divides the island into two main zones: the “Sky Art Garden,” featuring seven elevated pavilions that bear more than a passing resemblance to his previous work on Little Island in Manhattan, and the “Waterside Cultural Zone,” a venue for concerts and art exhibitions. Seoul officials say the design aims to balance architecture and ecology — a hallmark of Heatherwick’s work — while reconnecting the island with city life.

The ongoing reinvention of Nodeul Island marks another change in the small island’s century of flux, reflecting the capital’s larger struggle to decide what, exactly, the Han River should be.

Island of constant transformation

People watch the sunset from the western end of Nodel Island, central Seoul, on June 8. The skyscrapers of Yeouido are visible on the left. [MICHAEL LEE]

For residents and visitors to Seoul, Nodeul Island is a rare oasis of tranquility, even among the many parks along the Han River. Its unique location in the middle of the river, with a lawn facing the skyscrapers of Yeouido to the west, has made it a popular gathering place, as well as a prime spot to watch the Seoul International Fireworks Festival in the autumn.

Park So-min, a 32-year-old graduate student who “occasionally” goes to Nodeul Island for weekend picnics, said, “There isn’t another place on the river that has a better view of the sunset. Some afternoons, it can be tricky to find a spot on the grass to lay out a mat.”

However, the island wasn’t always such a gathering place. In the early Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), the bank of the Han River south of the modern island’s location was known as Nodeul or Nodol, meaning “the stepping stones where egrets play” in Korean. A ferry dock called Nodeulnaru, whose existence in the area was first recorded in the 15th century, gave rise to the modern name of Noryangjin, located on the southern side of the river.

Meanwhile, the northern riverbank by modern-day Yongsan District was little more than a sandbar, a natural resting point on the Han’s wide waters. That peace ended in 1917, during the 1910–45 Japanese colonial occupation of Korea, when engineers dredged the sand and built stone embankments to create an artificial island called Nakanoshima, or “Middle Island” in Japanese, to support the Hangang Bridge connecting Yongsan and Noryangjin. After liberation in 1945, the island became known as Jungji Island based on the Korean reading of the Chinese characters that made up its colonial name.

A 1917 postcard of the Hangang Bridge, which opened as a pedestrian crossing that year [JOONGANG ILBO]

The island was famously struck by tragedy in the early hours of June 28, 1950, when the bridge running through it was bombed by South Korean troops in an attempt to slow down invading North Korean forces, killing some 500 to 800 people fleeing the capital. The bridge was restored after the 1953 armistice and later widened to accommodate vehicles.

Through the 1950s and 60s, the island was a popular fishing and swimming spot in warmer weather and host to ice skating when the river froze over in winter. It began to take its modern form in the late 1960s, when a private company called ChinHung bought the island with plans to create a fee-paying park and expanded it from 33,060 square meters (8 acres) to 148,760.

People skate on the frozen Han River near what was then known as Jungji Island in this file photo from the 1960s. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Though ChinHung did not carry out these plans, it did build tennis courts, which became the main attraction of the island after the beach was closed for sanitary reasons. Ownership shifted in 1986 to the construction giant Kunyoung, which built a helipad on the eastern end. The island, which assumed its current name in 1987, only came back under public ownership in 2005, when the Seoul Metropolitan Government purchased it for 27.4 billion won.

That purchase marked the start of Nodeul Island’s pockmarked modern history of policy indecision.

Stage without a script

The initial redevelopment outline for Nodeul Island was just one of several envisioned by the city government as part of its so-called Han River Renaissance Project, an ambitious plan hatched by conservative Mayor Oh Se-hoon to enhance and expand waterfront facilities and infrastructure during his first term from 2006 to 2011.

A render of the Nodeul Island opera house project, which was eventually scrapped after Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon resigned in 2011. [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

The acquisition of the island was intended as a first step toward building an opera house on the Han River that could serve as a waterfront centerpiece akin to Sydney’s gleaming sails. By 2010, the project was ready to move forward — until the Seoul Metropolitan Council suddenly pulled the plug.

While the legislature cited the city’s 25 trillion won debt in its decision to scrap the foundation meant to oversee the opera house, critics also warned of structural risks associated with building a massive opera house on what was originally a sandbar. Locals further warned that traffic across the Hangang Bridge, already infamous for gridlock during commuting hours, would grind to a halt if an opera house were to be built in the middle of the island.

However, the most decisive blow came not from engineering reports or legislative objections but from political turnover. When Oh resigned in 2011 over the lack of turnout for the city’s free school lunch referendum, the curtain came down on his opera house dream along with him.

Opera house to urban garden

Oh’s successor, Park Won-soon, came into office promising practicality over grandeur. Park scrapped the opera house plan, calling its 600 billion won price tag and lack of traffic planning untenable. In its place, he introduced something humbler: an urban garden.

From 2012, a portion of Nodeul Island’s old tennis courts was converted into small community farm plots. The public could rent a few square meters of soil for a season, growing vegetables amid the river breeze. It was a civic, environmentally friendly gesture — low-cost, participatory and symbolic of Park’s bottom-up approach.

But the project faced criticism as a token measure that failed to animate the island, which saw few visitors during Park’s administration. In response, the city held dozens of public forums and competitions between 2013 and 2015 to solicit new visions for the site. The plan that was selected, devised by a design team called Urban Transformer, proposed a music-centered cultural complex featuring an outdoor stage area, with potential for expansion if necessary.

Short-lived reinvention

When the complex opened in September 2019, fanfare was muted. Visitors derided its boxy, industrial design as uninspired, even depressing. Some likened it to a warehouse or an aircraft carrier floating on the river.

Nodeul Island as seen from a skyscraper in Yeouido on Sept. 18, 2019, ten days before its current cultural complex officially opened [YONHAP]

However, city officials at the time defended the minimalism, saying the design intentionally allowed for future expansion if visitor numbers rose.

Real estate experts were harsher. “Spending hundreds of billions just to uphold Mayor Park’s personal beliefs and vision is a waste of time and money,” said one critic shortly after the complex opened, accusing the city administration of letting ideology override urban competitiveness.

Back to the drawing board

By 2023, the political pendulum in Seoul had swung again. Back in the mayor's office after more than a decade, Oh designated Nodeul Island the pilot site for his new Urban and Architectural Design Innovation Initiative. His guiding principle — “design first, bureaucracy later” — reversed the usual process of securing budgets and approvals before soliciting proposals.

A render of how Nodeul Island will appear from the southern end of the Hangang Bridge once Heatherwick Studio's ″Soundscape″ plan has been realized [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

The initiative launched with an April 2023 forum at City Hall, where seven teams of architects, including Heatherwick, Germany’s Jürgen Mayer and Korea’s Kim Chan-joong, presented their visions to an audience of about 500 residents. Their designs were later exhibited at six sites across Seoul, with public feedback collected online and in person.

In May 2024, Heatherwick’s concept, titled “Soundscape,” was selected as the winning design following limited public consultations. It envisions a futuristic complex of elevated walkways, floating stages and landscaped gardens — a new landmark meant to fuse art, nature and urban life along the Han River. The city held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony attended by Oh and Heatherwick on Oct. 21, with completion planned for 2028.

A city official, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Korea JoongAng Daily, said the project builds on a 2015 plan that anticipated future expansion. The island will remain partly open during construction, with lower riverbank areas closing on Nov. 20 and the upper levels following in mid-2026.

A render of how Nodeul Island's western end will look after Heatherwick Studio's ″Soundscape″ plan has been realized [SEOUL METROPOLITAN GOVERNMENT]

Still, some residents are uneasy about the transformation. Park, the graduate student who first heard about the development when reached for comment, said she’s concerned the new complex could block the island’s current views of the river and disturb its peaceful character.

“I sort of wish the city chose a different spot to build the new structures, because the island now is just a casual, comfortable place to meet friends,” she said.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]