Song of the South
Going Places (Malaysia Airlines' in-flight magazine)
December 2010
Song of The South
There are construction projects and then there are mega construction projects. South Korea's
Songdo falls squarely in the latter category. Rivalling the grandiose massive developments
of Dubai, Songdo aims to be the new economic hub of South Korea, a world class purposebuilt
city that will eventually swallow USD40 billion in capital when completed, making it the
largest and most expensive private real estate development. Ever.
Rising up from reclaimed land along Incheon city's waterfront, some 40km west of Seoul,
Songdo will feature the 151 Incheon Tower, which will be the world's tallest twin towers
(601m, connected by not one or two but three skybridges) when completed in 2015; the
current tallest building in South Korea, the 305m Northeast Asia
Trade Tower; the vast Songdo Convensia convention centre; the
ultra-modern Song do Arts Centre; a Jack Nicklaus-designed
golf course; replicas of New York's Central Park and Venice's
waterways; the massive Riverstone Mall; the International
School Songdo and dozens of condominiums dotted around
what the project's designers call a ‘ubiquitous city'.
Ambitious? Very. But the signs are that Songdo will succeed;
the first Songdo apartments launched in June 2010 were
oversubscribed by a factor of eight. Ambitious and audacious,
Songdo is an exciting development to keep an eye on.