Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

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19. Olympic Village
3. Park Seh-jik, SLOOC President,
inspecting the Olympic Village
construction site.
4. The Olympic Village was dedicated on
May 31, 1988, after 19 months of
construction; President Roh Tae Woo, IOC
President Samaranch and Seoul Mayor
Kim Yong-nae are shown at the ribboncutting
ceremony.
5. Guideboards were erected throughout
the Olympic Village using pictograms of
competition venues and facilities.
6. Oryun Primary School was transformed
into the Village Medical Center, a clinic
with the capacity of a general hospital.
3
19.2
Village Construction and
Management
19.2.1
Village
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Construction
A draft plan for the Olympic Village
was drawn up in 1983. It called for
accommodation capacity of 15,000
people with 86 lodging buildings
comprising 3,962 units. It also called
for additional facilities such as
athletes' hall, swimming pool,
administration center. The facilities
were to cover 551,996 square meters
out of 626,664 square meters tract in
Tunchon-dong and Ogum-dong,
Songpa-gu, Seoul.
The Office of the Prime Minister had
designated the Seoul City as the main
undertaker of the project for the
Olympic Village in its proposal for
facility layouts for the Seoul Asian
Games and Seoul Olympics.
The construction was to be a publicfinanced
development with an
international open design contest, and
the units were to be sold in advance
to the public in order to generate
revenues required for the
construction.
The initially chosen site of the village
was situated across the Seoul Sports
Complex on some 262,481 square
meters of land for 2,160 apartments
units for 13,000 people. But further
study showed the area was too
confined by nearby apartment complexes
and lacking visual beauty;
therefore, the location was changed.
The Seoul City, which was in charge of
construction of the village, held an
international open contest for the
building design. Out of 39 designs, a
joint work by Whang ll-in the of II kun
Architects and Engineers Group
and the Woo Kyu-sung of Woo &
Williams Architecture Group was
chosen as the winner in June 1985.
An execution drawing was completed
by March 1986 and construction got
under way in November of the same
year.
The village was completed 19 months
later on May 31, 1988, and all of its
facilities were turned over to the
charge of the SLOOC.
19.2.2
Village Facilities
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Space allotment
The SLOOC examined and researched
various other Olympic Villages in other
countries when drafting its blueprint in
1983. As a result, the SLOOC decided
to divide the village into two separate
parts. The Residential Zone isolated
from noise pollution and the International
Zone where entertainment,
recreation, arts and shopping facilities
were to be grouped together.
The building design contest was held
with this requirement in mind, and the
winning design detailed separation of
residential and common quarters,
placing public facilities in the heart of
a radial-shaped village. The overall
shape, therefore, resembled a half
circle evocative of a fan.
The SLOOC completed its inspection
and supplementations to the outlays
of village facilities and came up with
the final "Olympic Village Operation
Facility Outlays" in October 1987.
Living quarters
It was decided from the outset of the
Olympic and Press Villages' construction
plan in 1982 that the living
quarters should be built in the form of
modern apartments. The Seoul City
pursued construction of the Olympic
Village and the Press Village simultaneously,
a total of 5,540 units in 122
apartment buildings, of which 3,692
units in 86 buildings belonged to the
Olympic Village.
The Olympic Village living quarters
were divided into four districts. District
A had 39 buildings with 1,472 units,
District B with 19 buildings of 716
units and District C with 24 buildings
of 1,232 units. Athletes from 160
nations were accommodated in these
three closely-knit areas, while
operation personnel stayed in the
distanced District D which contained
272 units in four buildings.
Apartments were divided into six
categories according to size, with the
largest unit accommodating 16 people
and the smallest unit five people.
Athletes were allotted their apartments
depending on the delegation size.
Supplementary facilities
The International Zone, in the heart of
the village, was equipped with
numerous public facilities as common
living amenities.
At the core was 2,425.5-square-meter
the Flag Plaza, and Athletes' Hall with
combined floor space of 27,915
square meters, covering three stories
above ground with one basement
level. The Athletes' Hall, 33.6 meters
wide and with an exterior length of
282 meters, was shaped like a letter 'j'
and when seen from above, gave the
appearance of a walking stick laid flat.
The outdoor Flag Plaza was covered
with artificial turf and equipped with
170 flag poles. It was designed for use
for various ceremonies. The floor of
the plaza also included an area of
10,000 glass blocks forming a radial
shape approximately 21 meters in
diameter. The illumination system,
dubbed "disk of light," emitted
fantastic light from below during the
Types of Olympic Village Rooms
Type
A Type (single story)
B Type (single story)
D Type (single story)
E Type (single story)
CD+ED Type (two-story)
DD+ED Type (two-story)
Total
Area
112m 2
132m 2
169m 2
188m 2
162m 2+ 212m 2
175m 2+ 212m 2
night. In the basement, 173 illuminators
were installed, featuring 150watt
red-tinted beamlamp or
sometimes a 175-watt snow-white
metal highlight that shot up to the sky.
The Athletes' Hall, referred to as the
"Glass Palace," had an appearance
resembling a glass botanical garden,
covered by an 11 -meter-wide glass
roof and 5,000 sheets of special fiber
glass on its side facing the Flag Plaza.
Close to the Athletes' Hall were the
Olympic Village Headquarters (684
square meters), VIP Lounge
(684 square meters), Telecommunication
Center (684 square meters),
Operation Center (479 square meters),
and police substation (165 square
meters). The three-story entertainment
facility provided a 13x25 meter
swimming pool, saunas and public
baths for men and women, circuit
training area, locker rooms, weigh-in
room, and lounge.
On the green belt area away from the
International Zone were the Administration
Center (274 square meters) and
the SPBC (1,957 square meters).
The Religious Center (2,472 square
meters) with prayer rooms for six
religions-Protestant, Catholic,
Buddhist, Greek Orthodox, Islamic
and Jewish-was located in the
Olympic Village together with the
Village Medical Center (2,519 square
meters) that was up to par with a
general hospital.
Decorations
Decorative articles created a
comfortable living environment and a
festive image.
Flower beds were placed on streets
inside the village, and some 5,000
flower pots decorated the streets and
the interior and exterior of facility
structures. At the entrance to the Flag
Plaza stood a 10-meter-high threedimensional
flower tower. Bearing the
emblem of the Seoul Games, the
tower was commonly used as a
background for commemorative
photographs.
Decorative columns, 30 in all, were set
up to add a touch of Korean art, and
270 other decoration items were put
up at annex structures. There were
also 510 fence draperies, a welcoming
arch, two ad balloons, two folk panel
decorations, nine placards, 210
stringers, and 260 pole banners,
totalling 6,733 items of 16 different
kinds.
A total of 780 information sign boards
of seven different kinds were used,
No. of Buildings
20
25
13
5
15
8
86
No. of Households
1,112
1,020
216
192
516 + 172
348+116
3,692