OMA's competition-winning campus for Seoul’s Hongik University digs into its site

OMA has won a competition to design a new campus for Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. Described by the firm as a “cluster of interwoven buildings and public spaces that meld with the existing topography,” the scheme includes a significant level of greenery to integrate with its mountainside site. 

The new campus sits below ground level, with OMA choosing to excavate downwards rather than meeting the skyline of its mid-size neighbors. The roofs of new structures serve as tree-sheltered paths for the ground-level landscape while, between the buildings, sloping outdoor courtyards step downwards “encouraging students and staff to gather and interface informally.”

The new buildings are organized into clusters based on three sectors: high-tech laboratories close to the engineering faculty, amenities placed at the center, and “maker spaces” positioned towards the wider district. A new art center will also occupy the central buildings while the perimeter will house a multipurpose learning hub. 

“The new Hongik campus adds another chapter to OMA’s involvement in cultural projects in Seoul,” said OMA partner Chris van Dujin about the scheme. “This is a project that shies away from conventional labels: it is a building, a masterplan, and landscape design all at once. It purposely avoids standing out and invites it to be discovered gradually. In doing so, it aims to reestablish the connection the university once had with the neighborhood.”

OMA’s scheme was chosen from five entries including SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and David Chipperfield Architects.

News of the scheme comes in the same month that OMA unveiled its design for the Metropolitan Village residential tower in Taipei. In October, meanwhile, the firm’s new Toranomon Hills Station Tower opened in Tokyo.