The Judges Awards

09.5 Seoul

A wave of new design and architecture is surging through Seoul. Host to this year's Design Olympiad and selected as 2010's World Design Capital, the city saw Rem Koolhaas's shape-changing Transformer cultural pavilion for Prada open next to the Gyeonghui Palace earlier this year. Other upcoming architecture projects include Daniel Libeskind's addition to the Yongsan financial district, which will feature hotels, flats and shopping centres by 2016, and Zaha Hadid's Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park, set to open in 2011. Landmark shopping destinations – such as Rena Dumas's gilded block for Hermès, Ann Demeulemeester's burrow-like store and UNStudio's seminal Galleria Department Store – are setting a trend for the kind of super-malls usually seen in neighbouring China or Japan. Gallery-wise, the Arario Seoul, located in a remodelled former public baths, and the Leeum Samsung Museum, designed by Rem Koolhaas, Jean Nouvel and Mario Botta, have both injected vitality into the Korean art scene. While it may be a hardworking city, Seoul isn't short of decadent choices for time out; recent arrival the Templum spa, designed by Claudio Silvestrin and Giuliana Salmaso, is a contemporary pampering spot with a rooftop pool.

Cultural draws: Leeum Samsung Museum of Art; Arario Seoul; Prada Transformer
Events: 2009 Design Olympiad; 2010 World Design Capital
New architecture: Daniel Libeskind's Yongsan financial district; Zaha Hadid's Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park
Shops: Ann Demeulemeester and Hermès flagship stores; UNStudio's Galleria Department Store
Spas: Templum Spa; Park Hyatt Club Spa

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