Mikyoung Kim has brought a stream back to life in Seoul’s central business district. The ChonGae Canal Source Point Park: Sunken Stone Garden won an ASLA award in 2009 with the following statement submitted by the jury panel, “Spectacular. This is a landmark project with great promise for the future. We love the culture and symbolism. It changes so dramatically at different water levels.”
The Chongae River was the main reason why Seoul was chosen as the capital of Korea. Because of the central focus, the population grew and impacted the health of the river. It was paved over in the mid-1960s, which also divided the city in two. But in 2005, the ambitious restoration project reopened the stream to the skies once again with the help of the Seoul Army Corps of Engineers to the city’s occupants along with a host of additional benefits including decreased pollution and heat within the city central and an introduction of 213 separate species of birds, fish, and other organisms.
If more cities around the world took green areas into account when designing architectural projects, the benefits would definitely assist our environment as well as the well-being of the people who live and work there. What a beautiful masterpiece Mikyoung Kim created in this project!
– from My Modern Met post -> Mikyoung Kim’s site -> ALGA site -> NY Times 2009 coverage
