leonidas papalampropoulos’ proposal for seoul’s riverfront draws upon upon the idea of a fictional submarine. this new urban strategy reshapes the public realm in order to reinforce the spatial connectivity between the river and the city. the structure consists of a viewing platform which circles down the construction to from a fluid spiral shape.
the project derives its spiral form from the spatial manifestation of public movement between the river and the city; an architectural promenade that extends the city’s street network into the river bank. the spire becomes the geometric representation of a hybridization process where diverse urban elements, such as the street, the promenade, the terrace, the viewing platform, the terminal and the marina are fused to create one fluid gesture.
based on the fictional submarine of jules vernes, the structure acts as place in which to observe the city and to look out onto the future, states leonidas papalampropoulos. the terminal incorporates the two kinds of gaze: a panoramic view from the platform and the terrace and a framed view from the interior balconies. the design intergrades the upper and lower pontoon into one continuous structure, a kind of buoyant marine vessel.
a reversed double-skin dome is formulated from the geometric features of the spiral movement. the bowl-shaped shell consists of a steel 3D truss cladded with a water tight metal skin. in order to ensure the floating stability of the bowl the design introduces a peripheral pontoon ring which creates a wider floating base and also functions as an outdoor connector of the marina piers. taking into account the flooding condition of the han river the design adopts a resiliency approach. the buoyant structure is connected to the pedestrian access bridge through a metal bridge that functions as a joint, allowing for the vertical movement of the terminal while also adjusting the slope to an accessible condition for the public during normal flood levels by rolling along the connection with the access bridge.
