About this place
Arts-focused university campus in Seoul's Hongdae district. Built on Wau Mountain slopes since the 1950s; OMA won the 2023 expansion competition.
Hongik University's Seoul campus occupies the gentle slopes of Wau Mountain in Mapo-gu, one of Seoul's most creatively charged districts. Founded after Korea's liberation and rebuilt following the Korean War armistice, the campus settled into its current site in the 1950s, developing an ad hoc cluster of flat-roofed concrete buildings that reflect Bauhaus economy rather than monumental ambition.
The spatial quality here is distinctly informal. Unlike Korean campuses with axial layouts and imposing gates, Hongik's buildings follow the mountain topography, creating a layered series of levels, outdoor platforms, and unexpected vantage points. This apparent randomness has produced a campus culture of spatial appropriation — students and artists continually find new uses for corridors, courtyards, and thresholds. Works of art appear throughout: sculptures, installations, and student projects surface between buildings, turning the campus itself into an ongoing exhibition.
The surrounding Hongdae neighbourhood grew up around the university's arts programmes, and the campus and the street have long been in dialogue. Independent galleries, studios, and experimental venues cluster along the perimeter and up through the back streets of Sangsu-dong. Arriving from Hongik University Station, the transition from metro exit to campus feels immediate and porous.
In November 2023, OMA won an international competition — beating SANAA, Herzog & de Meuron, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and David Chipperfield Architects — to design a major campus expansion. The scheme by Chris van Duijn sinks new laboratories, maker spaces, and an art centre below ground level, with green roofs forming a continuous landscape that connects the campus to the city. Construction is expected to begin in 2026 and complete around 2030. When finished, it will significantly alter the campus's relationship with the hillside and the street.
In the meantime, the existing campus rewards visitors drawn to informal academic environments where creativity is visibly at work.
Architecture · Educational BuildingCulture · Cultural Center