Dongdaemun Design Plaza

The DDP opened in 2014 to a design by Zaha Hadid - a single continuous form in over forty-five thousand aluminium panels, no two the same, with no straight lines and no obvious front, sitting where a baseball stadium used to be. It is the largest three-dimensional atypical building of its kind and it divided Seoul sharply: admired as a landmark, criticised for its cost and for how little it answers to the market district around it. Digging the foundations turned up the Seoul city wall, a floodgate and military barracks, and those remains were excavated and are displayed in an open park beside the building, with a small museum - so a fourteenth-century rampart sits under a twenty-first-century curve. Inside are exhibition halls, a design museum, shops and a library, and much of the circulation is public and open twenty-four hours. The LED rose field that appears on the lawn periodically is a recurring installation. Dongdaemun's night markets are next door.

What's there

• The curved shell - the aluminium form with no straight lines.
• The excavated wall - the fortress remains in the park beside it.
• The open circulation - ramps and walkways open round the clock.
• The night lighting - the building lit against the market district.

When to go

Year-round; evenings, when the building is lit and the Dongdaemun markets open. Exhibitions have their own hours and tickets.

What to expect

The architecture is the attraction; exhibitions vary and are charged. The interior is disorienting by design. The surrounding district is wholesale clothing markets, busy and unglamorous.

Nearby

Heunginjimun gate is a few minutes' walk; Gwangjang market is west.

Key facts