Abstract
This paper analyzes how the city government-led project to promote Seoul as the world design capital has resulted in the construction of spectacular architecture, and how such a vision of Seoul is resisted by various actors. Construction of the Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza, designed by Zaha Hadid, is an effort to rebrand Seoul′s image from that of an industrial city relying on manufacturing to that of a post-industrial city emphasizing service industries. Although Hadid′s design, which integrates the historical wall from the Chosun dynasty, was deemed respectful of Korean heritage by the city government, many sports fans, street vendors, and artists have criticized it as representing a continuation of the developmentalist project. By highlighting the controversial design campaign of the FF group, this paper illustrates how the technique of détournement, proposed by Guy Debord, the founding member of the Situationist International, can be used to undermine the spectacle generated by the star architect′s design. Despite the tendency of dramatic visual statements to stifle the struggles of everyday life, the case of Dongdaemun shows that the potential for critical design still exists.
