For the month of November, the Seoul metropolis authorities opened all the 652-meter rooftop of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) to a couple fortunate guests, working the DDP Rooftop Tour, aptly titled “Crusing Over Seoul.”
My first response to getting the possibility to stroll atop the DDP’s easy steel curves wasn’t architectural awe — it was questioning whether or not I used to be going to slide proper off the factor. Nonetheless, with slightly trepidation, I signed up with a good friend as curiosity received out over nerves.
The backstory alone makes the climb worthwhile. When the DDP opened to the general public in 2014, architect Zaha Hadid left a daring stamp on Seoul. Her “metonymic panorama” strategy wasn’t nearly making a constructing; it aimed to seize town’s layers, together with its historical past, tradition and street-level power, inside a construction that appears to ripple and replicate like water. I’ve all the time thought of it a cousin of downtown Chicago’s Bean, formally generally known as “Cloud Gate.” Over the previous decade, greater than 1,000 headline exhibitions and style-forward occasions have taken place right here, and by the top of 2025, the full customer quantity is anticipated to high 20 million.
Opposite to ideas of perilous parkouring on slippery roofline slopes, the Rooftop Tour is promoted as a time-traveling city expertise, damaged down into 4 sections: design, historical past, panorama and future. Beneath the idea of “Seoul drifting,” every a part of the course immerses sky walkers in a distinct side of town, very similar to the metonymic layers Hadid meant.
After checking in, we went by way of orientation, met our docent and guides and watched a brief security video. The 2 most important security precautions careworn had been to remain on the trail, as we’d be tethered on a retractable leash, and to hold no free gadgets. Our telephones had been strapped to us in armband instances and will solely be taken out at two designated picture zones. Then got here the gear: “Squid Recreation”-esque jumpsuits designed by eco-friendly Korean trend duo Kanghyuk, in our alternative of shiny cyan or pink.
Individuals costume in brightly coloured jumpsuits throughout an orientation earlier than occurring the rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21. Courtesy of Andrew White
After a brief stroll by way of the fourth-floor hallways of the DDP, we got here to the security room vestibule’s rooftop entry hatch. A harness, earphones (for the English-language tour narration) and helmet accomplished our security gear, together with some ultimate reminders: “Keep on the trail. No free gadgets. Keep one meter aside. No horseplay.”
My good friend stated, “The pre-tour briefing felt surprisingly like a countdown to an area mission, and the outfits added an surprising ‘Squid Recreation’ vibe, a sense that solely intensified as we ascended to the rooftop.”
As soon as strapped in and clipped up, we went up a steel ladder and thru an entry hatchway, not not like these in submarines.
The second I stepped out into the open, the chilliness and breeze hit without delay. From the best apex of the southern rooftop, Dongdaemun Market unfold out in a 360-degree panorama. Though the DDP is all sweeping curves from avenue degree, the rooftop itself presents a surprisingly flat path, terraced, grassy in spots and fully invisible to pedestrians 5 flooring beneath. In mid-November, it appeared like a barren moonscape, the brown grass garden contrasting with the reflective silver panels that coated the curved slopes.
Tethered to the security rail, we started the course.
Tour contributors stroll throughout the rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21. Courtesy of Andrew White
To me, it was an equal steadiness of strolling by way of the rolling curves of a park, and being suspended within the surrounding cityscape.
From my angle, I used to be completely lined as much as solid my eyes down the lengthy westward stretch of Euljiro, with Mount Nam and its tower rising to the south. Transferring in single file, we drifted alongside the DDP’s signature curves, peering down into what was as soon as the location of Dongdaemun Stadium. Our information identified the 2 remaining stadium mild towers, standing like quiet testaments of the previous.
On the northern finish, we reached one of many two designated picture zones, with a backdrop of Dongdaemun Gate and a portion of Seoul Metropolis Wall seen to the north. Off to the aspect with Cheonggye Stream, we noticed Pyeonghwa Market, one among Korea’s greatest wholesale clothes markets, born from the stitching alleys that sprung up within the postwar interval that fed the expansion of what would turn into Dongdaemun Vogue City.
A tour participant poses at a photograph zone on the rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21. Courtesy of Andrew White
Turning again, we got here nose to nose with the center of Vogue City, with Doota Mall and Migliore entrance and heart. Wanting in the wrong way, the DDP’s flowing kind blended with the layers of the park beneath, making a panoramic sense of Seoul’s previous, current and future overlapping in a single city landmark.
One of the fascinating particulars I realized on the tour was that each one of many 45,000 aluminum tiles protecting the outside is exclusive in dimension and form, with no duplicates — a jigsaw puzzle that makes the constructing’s curves potential.
The rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21 / Courtesy of Andrew White
The gradual incline took us again towards our place to begin and our second picture alternative. I used to be grateful for the early afternoon tour time, hotter climate making the chilliness extra bearable. I questioned concerning the later afternoon classes with nightfall descending and the neon lights of town throughout. We posed for the ultimate couple of minutes on the silver-tiled picture zone platform, framed in opposition to the blue sky of japanese Seoul’s skyline.
Our tour information had been informative and supportive, however I used to be scolded for straying off the path. I used to be scolded for taking my cellphone out of its armband case. I used to be scolded for creating gaps in our single-file line. On the entire, if this had really been a “Squid Recreation,” I’d most likely have been eradicated within the first spherical.
Andrew White, second from proper, stands on the rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21. Courtesy of Andrew White
However most likely not by falling. Whereas being tethered to the security rail was reassuring and clearly cautionary, I used to be hard-pressed to see how anybody would possibly misstep and tumble over a shiny metallic waterfall edge. Wanting down on the road beneath, I imagined gawking pedestrians having the larger fright: “What’s with the 2 squads of neon-jumpsuited moon-walkers pacing throughout the highest of the DDP?”
My good friend agreed, noting, “It was a secure however adventurous expertise, with some picture ops and some chuckles with fellow ‘crew members’ alongside the best way.”
Tour contributors stroll throughout the rooftop of Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul, Nov. 21. Courtesy of Andrew White
Unsurprisingly, the DDP continues to rank extremely amongst residents and guests alike. Final 12 months, worldwide residents in Seoul named it town’s third-most-impressive landmark. Getting there couldn’t be simpler, because the plaza, dwelling to exhibition halls, a museum, parks and loads of buying, connects on to Dongdaemun Historical past & Tradition Park Station on subway strains 2, 4 and 5.
The day turned out to be ridiculously enjoyable. The DDP Rooftop Tour gave me a one-of-a-kind vantage level and a dramatic take a look at how Seoul’s historical past and futuristic skyline meet in a single view.
Andrew White is an American school professor in Seoul’s Nowon District. He acquired honorary Seoul citizenship in 2018 for his curiosity in and promotion of Korean conventional tradition.
