Kim Chung-young's Suwon Microscope (42) The Story Behind the 'Gyeonggi Arts Center' with Many Turns

- The site changed three times, the name changed four times

The history of performance halls in our country is not very long. Originally, the site of Sejong Cultural Center housed Seoul Citizens Hall. Seoul Citizens Hall was a representative performance venue of the time. However, on December 2, 1972, a fire broke out at Seoul Citizens Hall and it was completely destroyed. At that time, Korea had no large-scale performance halls besides Seoul Citizens Hall.

Therefore, the need for a comprehensive performance venue to replace Seoul Citizens Hall was raised. In January 1974, plans to build Sejong Cultural Center began on the site of Seoul Citizens Hall, and it opened in April 1978. The next city to pursue the construction of a cultural center was Busan.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism promoted the construction of regional cultural and arts centers in each province in 1984 to develop regional performance culture. This directive passed through Gyeonggi Province and was delivered to Suwon City.

Suwon City assigned the construction project of the Cultural and Arts Center to the Construction Division. At that time, the author was promoted from Grade 8 to Grade 7 and was transferred to the Construction Division Sewerage Section of the Urban Division in August 1983. At that time, the work of the Sewerage Section was minimal. The budget was only a few hundred million won for maintenance of road-side stormwater conduits, dredging of clogged sewers, and river maintenance due to heavy rains.

At that time, Lee Yoo-ha, the Director of the Construction Division, judged that I, who had relatively spare capacity and had been responsible for urban planning work, was the right person for the job. He assigned me to the project for building the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center.

The first task for the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center project was to select a site. It was decided to construct the Cultural and Arts Center on the so-called legislative assembly site on the left side of City Hall. Subsequently, when an architectural design competition was announced, several entries were submitted.

After organizing and evaluating a selection committee, the work designed by Lim Jang-ryeol of Sunglib Architecture, who designed Busan Cultural and Arts Center, was selected. At that time, the review committee, considering the characteristics of a cultural and arts center, pointed out that the site was too small and suggested building on a larger site. Given the various conditions, Olympic Park in front of City Hall was the only option for the land to build the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center.

So the location of the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center was changed to Olympic Park, and detailed design was pursued. In mid-1985, when the detailed design was completed, document review for building permits began. However, in the process of reviewing the Urban Park Law, a major error was discovered. The Urban Park Law had a provision that the building coverage ratio could not exceed 10% of the lot area. At that moment, I felt the sky was collapsing.

The land in front of Suwon City Hall was 58,454㎡ (17,682 pyeong) in Gwonseon-dong, Lot 1012. Under the Urban Park Law, the maximum floor area of a building was 5,845㎡ (1,768 pyeong). However, the building area of Suwon Cultural and Arts Center was 8,817㎡ (2,667 pyeong), and the total floor area was approximately 22,000㎡ (6,655 pyeong), which exceeded the building coverage ratio. So I fell into deep concern.

I was overwhelmed with worry about how to overcome this difficult situation. I couldn't suddenly report this to the director either. I began looking for alternatives. Just then, Korea Land Corporation was planning to carry out the Maetan District 1 Residential Development Project in the Ingye-dong and Maetan-dong areas covering 949,000㎡ (287,071 pyeong), which was at the boundary of the Gwonseon Land Readjustment Project, with the district designated on December 31, 1984.

Korea Land Corporation said it would develop a key area of East Suwon according to the contents of Suwon City's basic urban plan. It would develop a neighborhood park of 225,180㎡ (68,117 pyeong) located next to the East Suwon central commercial area through residential development. After land compensation and completion of the project in the future, it would become Suwon City's land.

So I examined in detail the case of building the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center on the Maetan District 1 park site. There were problems. One was that substantial portions of the detailed design would have to be redesigned. I thought this could be discussed with the designer as there were also designer's errors involved.

The other was that the residential development project had to be promoted promptly in order to commence construction of the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center. I reported these matters to Lee Yoo-ha, the Construction Division Director. Then he said he would immediately go to the site. At that time, the site was forest and farmland. After determining that there was nothing wrong with it as a site for the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center, the director heaved a sigh of relief.

He then scolded me for how someone who had been doing urban planning for so long could make such a mistake. The director subsequently reported this situation to the Bureau Chief, Vice Mayor, and Mayor and obtained their approval. The remaining task was to persuade the designer. First, even if the detailed design drawings did not change, the site location had changed, so dozens of floor plans would have to be redrawn. But the designer raised a new issue.

When the site of a building changes, a new soil survey of the location where the building will sit must be conducted. In this case, it was a principle to pay additional soil survey costs. However, since the budget was already from last year's project budget, there was no budget available.

I had to explain the situation to the designer. Fortunately, accepting the reality, the designer conducted the soil survey at his own expense and we were able to complete it successfully. On the other hand, I promoted the sewerage section's main work including the sewerage rate collection ordinance, establishment of a basic plan for sewerage pipelines, feasibility studies for sewage treatment plant construction, and design work for sewerage pipelines over two and a half years, putting it on the right track so that the project could be promoted starting from 1986.

With the situation developing this way, Suwon City elevated the Construction Division Sewerage Section to the Sewerage Department on October 31, 1985. However, at that time, a strange atmosphere was forming. I belonged to the Construction Division Sewerage Section and had been responsible for the design work of the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center and general sewerage work. So I thought it would be natural to move to the Sewerage Department.

However, when the Sewerage Department organization was established, the appointment of the Sewerage Department Director came first. Then the Sewerage Section moved its office to the Sewerage Department office. But when there was a delay in the appointment of the section chief and staff, a "tug of war" took place between Lee Yoo-ha, the Construction Division Director, and Sung Nak-heun, the Sewerage Department Director, over my position. The Construction Division Director said, "Kim Chung-young belongs to the Construction Division, so he should stay in the Construction Division."

The Sewerage Department Director said that of course he should be transferred to the Sewerage Department so that the work promoted so far would continue consistently. However, I had worked in the Urban Division for a long time, and urban planning was my major. In fact, when I left the Urban Division two and a half years earlier, the Urban Division regretted it. The personnel transfer on October 31, 1985, was to the Urban Division, neither the Construction Division nor the Sewerage Department.

So I handed over the sewerage work to Lee Yong-ho (Civil Engineering Grade 7, former Director of Suwon City Urban Policy), who was transferred from Anseong County to Suwon City. Subsequently, he took charge of the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center. Then, on December 18, 1985, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center was held. Kolon Construction took on the construction. At that time, the first phase construction cost was about 500 million won, and civil engineering work including site development and foundation excavation was carried out.

However, there was a person who gave testimony that someone was interested in the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center at that time. A few days ago, after reading 'Kim Chung-young's Suwon Microscope, Episode 37' and 'Stories Related to Suwon City Hall,' someone sent a message related to the promotion of the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center. The testimony was from Park Deok-hwa (former Yeongdeungpo District Chief), who worked in the Accounting Division from June 1984 to June 1988.

Vice Governor Baek Se-hyun, who served as Vice Governor of Gyeonggi Province from December 27, 1983, to December 16, 1985, requested a report around November 1985 on the progress of Suwon City Hall and the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center project. So at that time, Kwon Young-ju, the Accounting Division Director, Park Sa-joon, the Use Section Chief, and Park Deok-hwa, the person in charge, went and reported on the progress.

Vice Governor Baek had served as Mayor of Suwon City from August 2, 1978, to May 8, 1980. He was of the Suwon Baek clan. Due to that relationship, Vice Governor Baek was very interested in Suwon. It is said he asked, "Why a Suwon Cultural and Arts Center and not a Gyeonggi Province Cultural and Arts Center?"

Suwon City, saying it lacked budget, requested that it be transferred to the provincial government. It is also said that he persuaded Suwon City Hall to build a building at least five stories high despite the Ministry of Interior regulations, and introduced officials from the Ministry of Interior. So the Suwon Cultural and Arts Center was transferred to Gyeonggi Province in 1986.

From then on, Gyeonggi Province took over. In fact, given the circumstances of Suwon City at the time, the construction cost of 25 billion won was a burden. Thus, the burden on Suwon City was reduced, but by becoming the Gyeonggi Province Cultural and Arts Center, there was an inconvenience: the operational rights did not belong to Suwon City. Moreover, the building was under Gyeonggi Province jurisdiction while the land belonged to Suwon City, which created the problem of unclear ownership.

And an accident occurred at the Gyeonggi Province Cultural and Arts Center during construction around 1:00 PM on July 29, 1988. As the third-floor slab support collapsed, a major accident occurred in which five workers who were working were buried in concrete and died, and six others were injured. The city also suffered the pain of work being suspended for a while in the course of accident recovery.

The Gyeonggi Province Cultural and Arts Center was completed on December 31, 1990, five years after its commencement. Subsequently, starting with an opening performance on June 27, 1991, it took root as a cultural mecca in the Suwon region.

In December 2003, it became a foundation and the name was changed to 'Gyeonggi Province Culture Hall'. In March 2020, the name was changed to 'Gyeonggi Arts Center'.