FEATURES

Masterplanned municipal city of Sejong

Project architect Balmori Associates
Project director Diana Balmori
Location South Chungcheong province, Korea
Area 160 acres
Duration of project 2007-2011

Metropolitan politics After years of passing the political hot potato, Sejong is now
underway as a Korean zero-waste city. Like other eco-cities
around the world, it seems like a collaboration by Buckminster
Fuller and Le Corbusier, innovatively designing a city with eco-
Korean change of the guard yields innovative eco-city friendly methods, landscaping and graceful, conscientious
architectural design.
TEXT: NICHOLE L. REBER PHOTOGRAPHY: COURTESY OF BALMORI ACCOSIATES “Our main goal was to lay the groundwork for a zero-waste
city that fit into the landscape — that flowed and operated like a
landscape — contrary to the typical highrise development in
Korea. We wanted to have a more egalitarian model that fostered
public interaction and new public spaces,” says Mark Thomann,
director of Balmori Associates, a New York-based urban planning
and landscape design firm. “We wanted the city to grow
organically and to weave topography, water, and smart
infrastructure. It’s a new model for the city — Korean in spirit,
rooted in landscape urbanism.”
Balmori’s project uses architecture, landscape and
sustainability methods to help generate citizen accessibility to
the government. Sejong — supposedly named after a 15th-
century scholar king who invented Korea’s alphabet — began
three years ago as an international competition. Balmori won by
demonstrating how urban landscape and architectural design can Our main goal was to lay the
mitigate the pressures of population density and create a new
urban design standard. It centres not around a series of clunky groundwork for a zero-waste
towers but around the human experience. While construction
and infrastructure have begun, the first phase of governmental
city that fit into the landscape.
city of 160 acres should be completed in 2011, and the entire It’s a new model for the city
city will encompass 18,000 acres by 2030.

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Political scheme
The project was seen as controversial in
part because of talks of imminent
reunification of North and South Korea
after the demise of Kim Jong-il. It will
move 13 ministries and agencies but not
the most critical offices; it is also not as
centrally located as Seoul, according
to Korean reports. Sejong’s been
contentious between two presidents and
passed among different international
urban planners. Reports indicate that
former President, the late Roh Moo-hyun,
wanted to move Seoul because it
centralised the country to the detriment
of other provinces.
Current president, Lee Myung-bak,
however, opposed Sejong until he needed
that region’s election votes. “Immediately
after winning, he started to sour again
on the idea of Sejong,” Thomann says.
The city would have served as a hub
of science, technology, business, and
academia, and major multinational
corporations such as Samsung were
already promising significant funding. But
rising costs proved prohibitive and the
plan has returned to a master-planned
governmental centre.
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Zero-waste
“Nothing comes in and nothing goes
out,” says Diana Balmori, principal of the
firm, regarding implemented sustainable
resource and land planning techniques.
The first thing to notice about the plan
is the landscape. “It’s like creating a whole
system of parks by using the building’s
roofs. It has an enormous impact on the
heat island of cities, so you won’t have the
extremes of temperatures that other cities
have,” she says. “The area is encircled by
sterility, work as the city’s lungs, and
invite residents to outdoor use. A
greenscape of native flora will produce
abundant colours and species. Public
gardens will serve as backdrops for
farmers markets and resident activity.
Green rooftops, especially among the
commercial centre and government
complex will grant vertical density rather
than horizontal sprawl, enticing residents
to use the multi-planed outdoors. They
also prevent the urban heat island by
acting as the city’s lungs.
Small touches were important, too,
such as surrounding stepping stones on
ramped walkways of the commercial
center with landscaping for a natural, not
overly municipal feel.
The self-sufficient city will furthermore
employ sustainable water practices. Again,
it’s a matter of maximising the area’s
topography, which provides the utmost
resourcefulness. A major river and
tributaries feed into the wetlands, which
mountains. In Korea, in general, when
they’re trying to make a city they cut
down the topography, but we wanted to
keep it. The country’s all mountains. To
have them here responded to the
character of the country.”
One way that will be manifested is by
installing wind turbines there for
additional energy. Xeriscaping methods
and vernacular flora will complement the
area’s topography, lend vibrancy, prevent
will be expanded into an aesthetically
appealing reservoir. Water from the city’s
drainage system, rice fields, and rain will
be collected there before being cleaned
and reused. Grey water will irrigate rice
fields and designed landscape, other water
will be potable. Rainwater will be recycled
through buildings, and water from the
reservoir will water rooftop gardens.
The wetlands also act as a natural,
aesthetically appealing buffer between
municipal buildings and the reservoir,
creating “a continuous landscape and
public scape that yield a more dynamic
public relationship,” says Thomann.
Accessibility
This continuous flow is part of what the
firm calls a “flat city”. It’s one in which
the government feels more accessible.
The architectural and landscape design
helps to manifest that. “We avoided
towers and built everything at six
stories,” says Balmori. “While many
buildings at eight and fewer stories are
walk-ups, we implemented ramps and
elevators on continuous ground planes
that join all eight governmental buildings.
There are, however, some towers
planned surrounding the municipal area
— a virtually unavoidable element
in Asian developments. Surrounding
the governmental centre will be the
residential areas, expanding in stages as
the project grows.”
Finally, waste will be turned into
energy. Geothermal sources, solar panels,
and bio-gas from non-polluting burnable
materials will help produce energy.
Balmori also says the firm hopes
building construction will use concrete
that contains titanium dioxide, which
absorbs carbon dioxide from cars
and prevents it from entering the
atmosphere. “Ecological futurism seeks
to dissolve the edges between landscape,
architecture, infrastructure, and social
life,” says Thomann.
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政治左右
此項目一開始就充滿爭議，由於南北韓之間的
高峰會議持續進行，世宗市的政府機關地位一
直未明朗化。有十三個政府部門和機關將會移
到世宗市，但這些都非最有影響力的單位；而
根據韓國的報告，世宗市的地理位置亦不如首
爾般地處中央。世宗市成為了兩屆韓國總統的
爭議焦點，多位國際都會規劃師亦提出不同的
意見。報告指出，前總統盧武鉉希望能把首爾
搬遷，他認為首爾過度集中國家資源，損害了
其他道縣的利益。
而現任總統李明博卻反對建設世宗市，直
到他需要該區域的選票。Mark Thomann說：
「當他一勝出選舉後，就馬上重新否決世宗市的
概念。」這座新城市本應是科學、技術、商業
和學術的總匯處，並將為大型跨國企業的選
址，例如三星就已答應拿出巨額的贊助。但成
本不斷提高，計劃始終還是變回以政府機關為
中央的藍圖。
零浪費
項目總監Diana Balmori立下目標：「沒任何東
西運進來，沒任何東西運出去。」這說明了今
次項目採用環保資源和具可持續性的規劃
技巧。
首要留意的是地貌，她續說：「就像運用
大廈的天台來創造一完整系統的公園。這對於
整個城市的熱度控制有巨大影響，這裡將不會
像其他城市的極大溫差。而這地方四圍環山；
在韓國，當他們想要建設一個城市，他們通常
只會除去那些高高低低的地勢來夷為平地，但
我們希望保留山勢。因為這國家就是明山大
川，有山在側才能反映國家的特色。」
這說法的其中一個引證是安裝風力渦輪機 濕地亦會成為各幢公共建築和水塘之間的
來製造能源。另外，採用無水綠化技術去培植 優美緩衝地區，Mark Thomann說：「這樣製
本土植物，不但美化城市面貌，更為地區增添 造出一個連續的地貌和公共空間，可引發更多
活力和吸引市民到戶外活動。而且韓國當地的 變的公共關係。」
植物亦有豐富的品種和繁多色彩。農民市場和
市民活動的地方都會有公共花園作為背景。在 四通八達
商業中心和政府機構建築都會有綠色天台，而 「平坦的城市」是世宗市的形容詞，政府亦希望
這些建築都會集中向空中發展，而非橫向擴 這城市是四通八達的。建築和地貌設計都為此考
散，確保市民能使用多用途的戶外空間。這些 慮，建築代表說他們避免興建高樓，每幢建築都
範圍甚廣的綠色區域有如城市的肺部一樣呼 只蓋六層，那些八層樓高的建築之內有部分層數
吸，預防城市出現熱島效應。 是無電梯的，而是從地面興建斜路和扶手電梯去
微小細節亦不容忽視，例如是商業中心的 連結八座政府建築物。然而，根據亞洲建築元
走道會用小石鋪成，營造自然感覺，減少人工 素，無可避免地將有一些高樓圍繞市中心地區，
堆砌。 而在政府樞紐中心的週邊則是住宅區，住宅區將
這個自給自足的城市會採用具可持續性的 隨著整個計劃的成長而逐步擴張。
水源，盡量善用當地資源，一條主要的大河流 最後，廢物將會轉化成能量。熱能源、太陽
和支流會匯合成濕地，最終形成美麗的水塘。 能板和來自無污染可燃物料的生物氣體都會成為
而城市的排水系統、稻田和雨水都會被收集， 能源來源。Balmori希望建設會使用含有二氧化鈦
進行過濾和清潔過程，可再行使用。灰水會用 的石屎，二氧化鈦可以吸收汽車排出的二氧化
來灌溉稻田和花園，其他水則可作飲用。雨水 碳，減少對大氣層的傷害。Mark Thomann說：
會在大廈之內回收使用，而水塘水則會灌溉天 「環境學上的未來主義需要消除地貌、建築、基建
台花園。 和社會生活之間的界限，讓彼此相輔相成。」
「我們的主要目標是度身訂造一個零浪費的城市，其基礎
能有如自然風景本身般自然運作，有別於韓國典型的朝高
空發展 」

大都會政治
韓國銳志革新，創造零廢物城市
撰文: NICHOLE L. REBER 攝影: 由BALMORI ASSOCIATES 提供

世宗市總體規劃藍圖 韓國世宗市的發展多年來都是政治圈的敏感熱 而然編織出自己的地貌、水源和一級基建。

項目建築：Balmori Associates 話，現在終於要朝向零廢物城市的目標前進。
項目總監：Diana Balmori 就如世界上其他環保城市一樣，這座全新規劃
地點：韓國忠清南道 的城市充滿了現代主義大師富勒與柯比意的色
面積：160英畝 彩，背後推手利用嶄新又環保的手法去設計這
工程日期：2007-2011 城市，保持了建築良心。
負責項目建築的Balmori Associates來自
紐約，擅長都市規劃和景觀設計，總監Mark
Thomann說：「我們的主要目標是為當地地
勢度身訂造一個零浪費的城市，其基礎能有
如自然風景本身般自然運作，有別於韓國典
型的朝高空發展。我們希望打造出主張平等
的城市楷模，促進公眾互動和刺激更多公共
空間出現。最好是城市會有機地成長，自然
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這是城市的新模式 — 內含韓國精神，兼具都
市化面貌。」
Balmori的項目採用了建築、地形學和可持
續的方法，為市民和政府之間搭起橋樑。世宗
是韓國一位十五世紀的君主，他發明了韓國文
字，而世宗市是以他命名，並在三年前成為國
際比賽的項目。Balmori勝出的原因是他們示範
了都會地貌和建築設計如何解決人口密度的壓
力，並創造了全新的市區設計標準。藍圖不以
高樓大廈作市中心，而是圍繞著人文經驗出
發。當基建工程開始後，佔地一百六十英畝的
政府建築部分會在2011年完成，而整個城市將
會在2030年擴張成一萬八千英畝。
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