Common Ground & Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Common Ground, a large pop-up store near Konkuk University is one of my favorite places in Seoul. Opened  April of 2015, the multi-culture complex houses several fashion and food brands by South Korean start-ups including social enterprises, but what’s interesting about it is its architectural form — it’s a huge shopping center made of 200 shipping containers!

I didn’t get to take a lot of photos because I was too busy checking out the brands! Some stores I found too expensive though so I didn’t get to buy anything which is sad but the crowd really made up for it: Korean fashion!

Yass coffee yass

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Speaking of architecture, another structure in central Seoul is an important landmark for design freaks  — the Dongdaemun Design Plaza!

Designed by the late Zaha Hadid and the Korean firm Samoo, the massive urban development looks like something straight from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus!

3D printed Pikachu!

The highlight of our museum visit was seeing the LED Rose Garden exhibit, an art installation with 25,550 led roses scattered on the grounds of Dongdaemun Design Plaza representing the 25,550 days or 70 years of Korean independence from the Empire of Japan. It was so beautiful.