Viva Seoul

Seoul's Floating Islet

Viva, located on the Han River in Seoul, South Korea, is the worlds biggest artificial buoyant island. Intended as a new tourist attraction to the already popular Han river, 59 million people visiting last year, the first of three Islands has shown itself not only to be an engineering feat of genius and bravery but an architectural success to. The 3,271m2, three story cylindrical building, houses quite a few attractions including a 700 seat convention venue, restaurants and arcades which is all powered all with solar energy. The building itself is coated with 54m2 of Solar Panels, which provide enough power for all of its high end entrainment facilities and the beautiful lighting around the building at night.

Viva, Seoul, South Korea

The 2,000 ton floating Islet is the first of three islands to be opened, Vista the largest (around 15,000 m2) and Terra (around 4,000 m2) will open sometime in late August. The Islets are joined by 28 weather proof mooring lines that in conjunction with a high tech tracking system the Islets are made safe from floods or the harsh weather conditions on the river. The system alerts a controller if the the islands where to float too far from there home.

The building has a similar fell to that of the Chinese Olympic stadium, with modern shapes and nest like metal work, the building has a stability and fluidity suited to a water situated building. It has a great contemporary feel to the building perhaps, this helps to embrace its purposes of a lively place for entertainment and for vacation goes pleasure. I hope that the other building are as well achieved as the first, as the concept images for the building seem impressive and it would be a shame if one leg let down the others

Artists Concept For The Three Islets