Seoul City launches DDP rooftop tours, celebrating 10th anniversary

Dongdaemun Design Plaza in central Seoul intends to launch a pilot program for rooftop tours from this Friday to Nov. 17. Seoul City and the Seoul Design Foundation co-organized this special program to celebrate the 10th anniversary of DDP.

According to Seoul City, the upcoming pilot program allows visitors to take a 30-minute stroll on some parts of the DDP building rooftop. Once it is put to test this year, the organizers plan to diversify walking courses and change it to a paid official program at DDP in spring and fall. Tours are provided twice a day at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. from Fridays to Sundays by Nov. 17. For safety reasons, each tour allows up to 10 visitors aged 18 to 70.

A walk on the rooftop presents a panoramic view of downtown Seoul. “You will be mesmerized by an interestingly mixed scenery of Heunginjimun Gate, Hangyangdoseong Capital City Wall, and N Seoul Tower all over the city area,” adding that a look at ordinary places across Seoul comes across as one of the charms of this rooftop tour program.

On Wednesday, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon inspected the site for the program's test operation while walking on the DDP rooftop. “I dreamed of letting Seoul citizens enjoy the beautiful scenery of this architectural masterpiece. My dreams have come true,” he said, hoping that many more will have fun at this venue, which has garnered 100 million visitors so far this year. It started with the mayor‘s proposal last year to allow citizens to enjoy DDP’s rooftop space with the view of running such programs on a regular basis for greater public accessibility.


이소정 기자 sojee@donga.com