Dongdaemun Design Plaza: The Fashion Hub of South Korea

The Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) is a fashion plaza in Jongno, Seoul, South Korea within what is collectively known as Dongdaemun Design Plaza and History & Culture Park. Organizers hope to make Dongdaemun the fashion hub of South Korea and possibly the entire Asia-Pacific region when it holds its grand opening on March 21, 2014.

I went here at 6:30 p.m. KST on January 19, 2014. This was during my first time in South Korea, the second country on my list.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Design Plaza

The Dongdaemun Design Plaza, designed by world renowned Iraqi British architect Zaha Hadid, is a four-floor building with three underground floors, covering more than 85,000 sq m of total ground area. It features environment-friendly architecture, and design focusing on users’ convenience and attempts to portray the history, functions, and landscape of the area through the seamless connection between artificial structures and nature and fascinating sight of atypical and asymmetrical curves and oblique lines entwining the entire building. It will house a fashion design information center with seminar rooms and a lecture hall. There will be a multi-purpose convention hall, museum, lounge, studio, meeting rooms, and a number of exhibition halls. It will act as a test-bed platform for various corporate design products as well as a place for international cultural exchange and cooperation.

How to get to Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Take Seoul Subway Line 2, Line 4, or Line 5 and get off at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (formerly Dongdaemun Stadium Station) and take Exit 2.