The Line 2 Metro is the backbone to the urban metro system, encircling the city and interconnecting the eleven other metro lines across Seoul. To improve the neighbourhood living conditions, the Seoul city government is considering relocating the above-ground portion of Line 2, as well as the bordering highway underground. The burying of these two significant infrastructures would make space for new urban possibilities.

In an exercise of re-imagination and reinvention, Topotek 1 took to the task to offer a new vision for the discontinued railway infrastructure, by developing individual architectural structures to be arranged on top of the train stilts. This programmatic assemblage would create a dramaturgy in the city, a place for Seoul’s citizens to come together and for varying creative outlets through the flexibility of the project. Yong, the Serpentine Galleries would provide the physical frame for a multi-use space full of potential for various curations, thus creating a culmination point for the neighbourhood.

Stretching over 5,2 km and composed of 62 distinct architectural structures, our proposal is a bold vision for the future of the disused Line 2, offering both architectural and artistic intentions that would catapult the neighbourhood as an iconic feature and location of Seoul. Further even, it would launch the district and the city into the international conversation on the repurposing of disused infrastructure as well as possibilities of art, culture, and architecture in the continually evolving urban context.

Interlocked with the existing and reprogrammed metro stations, each architectural structure is imagined individually as unique and symbolic, yet en masse they form an iconic and eye-catching linear cluster. The proposed installations adapt to the extreme weather conditions of Seoul, while also respecting the events of South Korea’s calendar. This way, a deep-rooted connection to the neighbourhood community is formed ensuring the development of highly sensual spaces cultivated through the collaging feature of the various architectural boxes. Overall, the project distinctively presents the exploration of unlimited construction opportunities already existing structures capacitate.