Foreign architects dominate Korea`s skyscraper design field

What do the 68-story Northeast Asia Trade Tower, which stands tall in Songdo International City in Incheon, the 123-story Lotte Super Tower, whose construction is underway in Jamsil, Seoul, and the 108-story WBC Solomon Tower, whose construction will soon begin at Centum City in Haeundae, Busan, have in common?

They are Korea`s flagship skyscrapers standing more than 300 meters that are set to be built within five years, and were all designed by famous foreign architectural design companies.

Skyscraper projects had suffered setbacks due to a slump in the real estate market but are set to rebound. The design field, however, which is considered the bread and butter of construction technology for skyscrapers, is dominated by foreign companies. Big-name foreign architects are taking all design work for skyscraper projects in Korea.

The design of the Yongsan International Business District, which is considered Korea`s largest urban development project, has been conducted solely by foreign architectural design companies. No Korean architect has been involved in the course of initial planning, planning and basic design.

Korea depends solely on foreign help for the design of skyscrapers, each of which costs tens of millions of dollars. Korea is considered a global leader in construction capacity as virtually the only country with experience in building skyscrapers standing 150 stories or higher. But it is hardly competitive and lags far behind in architectural design.

As Korean architectural design companies have been outright excluded from the initial design phase, criticism has followed on the nation`s excessive dependence on foreign design technology. Construction experts say Korean authorities should give Korean companies that have basic skills and capacity but lack experience to gain a track record.”

○ Foreign domination of design work on Korea`s largest construction projects

For the Yongsan project, whose design work costs 326.9 billion won (290 million dollars) alone from the total cost of 31 trillion won (2.72 billion dollars), 19 architectural design companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan are taking charge of the entire process, encompassing the setting of a master plan to establish the entire development process and design of buildings for respective zones.

The project has onboard renowned foreign architects, including overall planning coordinator Daniel Libeskind, the famed architect who led the design of the reconstruction project at World Trade Center in New York; Italian-born Renzo Piano who designed Pompidou Center in Paris; American architect Adrian Smith, who designed the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa; and fellow American architect Helmut Jahn, who designed Sony Center in Berlin.

imsoo@donga.com