Seoul Design Foundation Expands Design and Cultural Content Through DDP

The Seoul Design Foundation promotes a wide range of exhibitions centered around DDP, discovering and sharing the value of Seoul’s design with citizens through outstanding domestic and international design content. As a world-renowned architectural landmark and one of Seoul’s representative cultural venues, DDP serves as a platform where design and urban culture intersect through exhibitions, events, educational programs, and citizen engagement initiatives.
DDP Design Museum is a Type I public museum registered with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the only public design museum in Korea. As a specialized institution dedicated to researching Seoul’s design assets and presenting contemporary design content, the museum seeks to broaden public access to design while fostering creativity and the public value of design. Through diverse exhibitions and programs, the Seoul Design Foundation provides an environment where citizens can experience design more closely in their everyday lives.
In addition, the Foundation enhances the expertise and scope of DDP exhibitions by integrating self-curated exhibitions, collaborative projects with domestic and international partners, citizen-participatory content, design archives, and educational programs. Through these efforts, DDP continues to evolve as a hub where Seoul’s design culture converges with global design trends, enriching everyday life and shaping the future of the city through design.

DDP exhibitions and programs

An Open Space Where Everyone Can Discover and Experience Design

DDP has evolved beyond a venue for viewing exhibitions into a dynamic meeting place where citizens, creators, designers, businesses, and domestic and international institutions come together. The Seoul Design Foundation actively attracts and curates exhibitions and events in the fields of design, culture, and the arts, while promoting collaborative exhibitions and citizen-participatory programs that reinforce DDP’s position as a leading hub for design culture in Seoul.
Through the DDP Design Store, the Foundation also introduces outstanding design products and showcases Seoul’s unique lifestyle while supporting designers and design companies in expanding their market opportunities. Visitors can discover creative and practical products that embody the value of design, experiencing how design extends from everyday life into industry.
The DDP website serves as an online communication platform that provides comprehensive information on exhibitions, events, spaces, venue rentals, and programs. Through both online and offline channels, the Seoul Design Foundation strives to make DDP’s diverse content easily accessible and to create an environment in which citizens can engage more closely with DDP’s exhibitions and programs.

DDP website, click here

A Platform for Design Knowledge and Inspiration

Seoul Design Learn is a comprehensive design education program that serves as an open learning platform where citizens, professionals, and industry leaders come together to learn, share, and exchange diverse knowledge and experiences surrounding design. Building upon the content accumulated through DDP’s exhibitions, events, and industry programs, the initiative was designed to help participants gain a broader and deeper understanding of how design connects with cities, everyday life, industry, and the future of society.
The program addresses a wide range of contemporary design topics, including architecture, urbanism, lifestyle, technology, branding, media art, and sustainability. Designers, architects, artists, researchers, and industry experts from Korea and abroad contribute their knowledge and practical experience. Through lectures, workshops, talks, and hands-on educational activities, participants are encouraged to experience design not merely as a specialized discipline, but as a practical tool for transforming everyday life and society.
In particular, Seoul Design Learn goes beyond conventional education by connecting directly with DDP exhibitions, Seoul Light DDP, and design industry programs. Since its launch in 2025, the Seoul Design Foundation and DDP have continued to develop Seoul Design Learn as a public education platform that enhances design literacy, facilitates knowledge exchange among professionals and industry leaders, and inspires citizens to envision the future of cities and everyday life through design.

To view DDP forums
(DDP Youtube channel)

Contributing to Local Prosperity and Tourism Vitality

Seoul Light DDP is a large-scale media art festival staged across DDP’s iconic curved façade and surrounding public spaces. Combining light, video, music, and cutting-edge technology on DDP’s 222-meter-long façade, the festival transforms the building into a monumental canvas, creating a spectacular immersive experience.
Since its debut in 2019, Seoul Light DDP has developed distinctive nighttime content through collaborations with renowned artists from Korea and around the world, including Refik Anadol. The program has since expanded to include seasonal media façade shows, citizen-participation projects, collaborations with brands and characters, and New Year’s countdown celebrations, establishing itself as one of Seoul’s signature public media art festivals.
In 2025, Seoul Light DDP was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the “Largest Projection Mapping Display on a Non-Regularly Shaped Structure.” The festival has also received international recognition through awards such as the iF Design Award, Red Dot Design Award, and IDEA, demonstrating excellence in both artistic creativity and technological innovation.
By strengthening nighttime tourism in the Dongdaemun area and creating festivals connected to local businesses and communities, Seoul Light DDP offers memorable urban experiences for citizens and visitors alike. Beyond its identity as a landmark silver architectural structure, DDP becomes a vibrant destination where light, art, and technology converge after dark, bringing new energy to the city.

To view Seoul Light on Youtube
(DDP Youtube channel)

The World’s Largest Three-Dimensional Free-Form Architecture

DDP was designed by the late Zaha Hadid, the world-renowned architect and the first woman to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Characterized by its flowing curves and composed of 45,133 uniquely shaped exterior panels, DDP is the world’s largest three-dimensional free-form structure, standing as both a monumental work of architecture and one of Seoul’s most iconic design landmarks.
Inspired by the dynamic energy of the Dongdaemun district from dawn until late at night, Zaha Hadid envisioned DDP as a place where the area’s historical, cultural, social, and economic contexts converge with a vision for the future. Through its distinctive architectural language of curves, diagonals, and sloping surfaces, DDP creates a new urban landscape that organically connects nature and the built environment, the past and the present, and people and the city.
The DDP Architecture Tour offers visitors an opportunity to explore the architectural significance of DDP, the design philosophy of Zaha Hadid, and the history and spatial identity of the Dongdaemun area with the guidance of professional docents. Through the tour, participants can gain a deeper understanding of the concepts, technologies, and urban context embedded throughout the landmark.
We invite citizens and visitors alike to discover the stories behind DDP and Dongdaemun through this unique architectural experience. Advance reservations are recommended to ensure smooth operation of the tour.

To learn more about DDP tour