What to do and see in Gwanghui-dong, South Korea: The Best Points of Interest & Landmarks

Reviewed By nicarafiki - Hartford, United States

A short walk from the JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul leads to one of the world’s most impressive and incredible architectural designs, the free flowing futuristic structure of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (known as the DDP) where history marries the present and embraces the future. Designed by the late internationally acclaimed Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient, visionary Zaha Hadid, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, frequented by both tourists and locals, greets all with the notable humanistic art of architecture. It imparts a feeling of liquid, fluid metal. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, home to 10 million people, is a modern world mega-city, designated in the year 2010 as the “World Design Capital.” It is indeed fitting that he Dongdaemun Design Plaza so elegantly captures the beauty and energy of Seoul. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza is home to the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park, featuring the Dongdaemun Relic Area 2, an archaeological site discovered at the former baseball field of the Dongdaemun Stadium Complex, yielding knowledge about the life of Korean people during the Joseon period. The tile-paved path believed to relate to the Japanese colonial period connects the building sites and the Well Site and Fireplace Feature depicted along the path. The dual-languages of the signage of the site are Korean and English. In the midst of this extraordinary mega-city of Seoul, resides peace and tranquility. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza also is home to eateries, coffee shops, art, gigantic sculptures, a rooftop park, bi-lingual tours of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, and so much more to experience.