Banpo, a place built by lives
Low apartment blocks, shops close to home and routes across the Han. Follow Banpo through 100 photographs of lives accumulating and a neighborhood being rebuilt.
Begin the story1960s–1970s
A neighborhood takes shape
Fields beside building sites and people waiting for housing lotteries. Change begins with shaping land and finding a home.
Before the city
Dust and machinery interrupt a low mountain landscape. Development in the Gyeongsu district, which included Banpo, began by reshaping land and roads.
Apartments beside fields
Rows of apartment blocks meet the outlines of cultivated fields. Farming land and mass housing share a frame as Gangnam takes on a new purpose.
A new neighborhood by the river
Low apartment blocks form a grid beside the Han. Open land around them makes this early neighborhood strikingly different from dense Banpo today.
Waiting for an apartment
A crowd fills the open ground beside apartment blocks. This AID housing lottery connects large construction projects with the people waiting to move in.
Gathered around the noticeboard
People crowd around notices on a wall during a lottery for 530 homes. Before online applications, housing information drew people to a shared physical space.
Housing in repeated rows
Buildings of similar height stand between wide lanes and open spaces. This layout gathered many households into one planned complex rather than a maze of small streets.
Windows facing the same way
Long apartment facades repeat across the view. As standardized housing spread, building and unit numbers became the coordinates of the new neighborhood.
Sky above low roofs
Roads stretch between low blocks toward distant hills. The broad, low-rise landscape reveals a different neighborhood scale from today's towers.
Building around the terminal
Traffic passes excavated ground and construction works. Around a terminal serving journeys across Korea, transport infrastructure was taking shape alongside new housing.
Traffic on two levels
Cars travel along a new elevated road between apartment blocks. Growing residential and terminal traffic called for routes separated vertically as well as horizontally.
A road through the complexes
Apartment blocks extend along both sides of a broad road. Housing had reached the scale of a neighborhood needing schools, shops and transport together.
1980s
Beyond the blocks, across the river
Shops bring daily life to apartment complexes. Bridges and roads connect the neighborhood with a wider city.
Apartments along the Han
Roads and apartment blocks follow the river into the distance. Urbanization was changing an entire riverbank, extending far beyond any single housing project.
A bicycle outside the shops
A bicycle and people share the space outside neighborhood shops. Small stores linked apartment life to a street where errands and encounters could happen close to home.
Space for water beside homes
A broad basin and embankment sit close to apartment blocks. Building a riverside neighborhood also meant making room for water, beyond the space needed for roads and homes.
A broad road, a mixed streetscape
Buildings of different heights surround a wide road. Even after major roads were laid out, the adjoining city continued to change unevenly.
More than apartment blocks
Dense low houses lie in front of larger buildings. Banpo and nearby Nonhyeon contained different forms of housing alongside the expanding apartment complexes.
Traffic beneath construction
Vehicles pass beneath bridge works. Infrastructure for future journeys was being built in the same space already used by the city's daily traffic.
Sweeping the neighborhood together
People with brooms gather outside shops for a civic cleanup. Maintaining the city also involved organized public participation on neighborhood streets.
Shared work outside the shops
People clean the pavement beneath shop and printing signs. The commercial street served as both a workplace and a setting for collective neighborhood activity.
A wide road toward the river
An expanded road and junction lead toward the Han. Their scale shows how strongly the developing city was being organized around motor traffic.
Piers across the river
Bridge piers stand in a line before the deck is complete. Connections shortening the journey between the two riverbanks took shape through lengthy construction work.
A winter city of apartments
Rows of similar-height blocks fill the view. Repeated windows and balconies register the growth of apartment living as a shared urban pattern.
Assembling Dongjak Bridge
Steel arches and construction equipment overlap above the water. The familiar finished bridge emerged from the work of joining large structural pieces one by one.
A bridge becomes an everyday route
The completed deck and piers span the riverbank. As construction became a route for travel, Banpo gained a closer connection with the opposite shore.
Widening the riverside road
Road construction occupies the strip between housing and the river. In the pre-Olympic 1980s, the waterfront was being shaped for both recreation and rapid movement.
The riverbank becomes a park
Paths and a shaped embankment appear along the broad waterfront. Preparing this land for public use changed how the city could encounter its river.
Snow beside Jamsu Bridge
Low Jamsu Bridge and higher Banpo Bridge overlap above a snowy riverbank. Different levels accommodate distinct routes across the same stretch of water.
1990s
Life around terminals and shops
Buses arrive, signs multiply and trees grow. A newly built district gains the character of a neighborhood inhabited over time.
A bridge filled with daily journeys
Several lanes of traffic fill Banpo Bridge. Crossing the river has become a repeated part of metropolitan life, beyond the earlier spectacle of bridge construction.
The terminal as a neighborhood landmark
A long terminal facade rises behind roadside trees. Banpo was a place to live and also an arrival point for travelers entering Seoul from other cities.
A different pace beside the river
A curved canopy rises above open grass in front of apartment blocks. The waterfront provides space for recreation alongside the routines of work and home.
The lanes of Banpo-daero
Trees and buildings line a broad, ordered road. The streetscape separates the movement of vehicles from the narrower spaces used by people on foot.
Buses connecting Seoul with other cities
Coaches in different colors wait in rows. The large terminal yard gathers and organizes journeys that will spread out across the country.
Traffic along Sinbanpo-ro
Cars and buses occupy the road in long lines. A street serving homes and shops also carries journeys extending far beyond the neighborhood.
A larger complex beside the terminal
Large buildings rise behind low bus platforms. The terminal district was expanding beyond transport to accommodate shopping and accommodation at a new scale.
Reading daily needs through shop signs
Signs for different businesses crowd a low commercial block. Everyday errands cluster just outside the apartments, bringing varied activities within a short walk.
A convenience store on the corner
A striped shop sign marks a corner beneath roadside trees. Chain stores were becoming part of neighborhood retail, changing the visual language of familiar streets.
Many routines in one building
A dense patchwork of signs covers the facade. Small businesses share different floors, revealing a finer-grained commercial world than a single large shopping center.
A low-rise neighborhood from above
Low blocks and tree-lined lanes repeat beside the Han. After decades of habitation, the complex reads as a whole urban landscape rather than a collection of buildings.
2000s
Rebuilt homes, a changing waterfront
Redevelopment, mixed-use buildings, underground shops and riverside parks reshape both housing and the ways people use the neighborhood.
Mature trees beside older homes
Trees rise close to white apartment facades. Greenery fills spaces once left open, showing how a neighborhood changes through growth as well as construction.
Familiar logos in a local shopping row
Franchise logos appear among neighborhood signs. Everyday eating and shopping were becoming part of a retail landscape increasingly shared across cities.
Walking beneath the shop signs
Pedestrians pass close to shopfronts along a narrow pavement. Beside the broad carriageway, this modest strip remains an important route through neighborhood life.
Shops across the crossing
A row of stores faces the end of a pedestrian crossing. The arrangement places everyday errands within walking distance of nearby apartment homes.
A shopping street underground
Stalls line a corridor filled with pedestrians. Transfers and shopping share the same route, connecting the underground market with the terminal's flow of people.
Goods along the passage
Shoes and clothing fill the edges of compact shops. Dense displays turn a walk through the underground passage into a sequence of browsing and comparison.
A brightly stocked small shop
Small goods fill a shop opening directly onto the passage. Many independent storefronts create a retail density quite different from a single large store.
Cars at the water's edge
Cars stand in rows beside the Han. The use of waterfront leisure space was closely connected with the habit of reaching destinations by car.
Schools within the housing landscape
Apartment blocks surround a school and its playing field. The complex brings not only homes but also children's journeys to school and outdoor activities into one area.
Shopping and travel at Central City
Large facades and entrances face the intersection. A mixed-use complex adds shopping and meetings to a district previously defined mainly by bus journeys.
The pattern before rebuilding
Low apartment blocks fill the land between major roads and the river. This recorded redevelopment district preserves the layout that later construction would transform.
Shop signs above construction fencing
Construction fencing runs below familiar shop signs. As the neighborhood prepared for redevelopment, traces of existing businesses remained beside the new building works.
Shop signs behind mature trees
Full-grown roadside trees partly conceal low shopfronts. Buildings and greenery have aged together, giving the edge of a planned complex a familiar neighborhood character.
Buses below the larger complex
Colorful coaches line up beneath a large mixed-use building. Even as the architecture changed, the terminal kept its role in connecting this place with the rest of Korea.
Flowers along the riverbank
Paths pass trees and flower beds with the city across the river. Land beside embankments and roads also offers a place to walk and notice the seasons.
A bridge that holds the evening
Lit streams of water fall from the bridge as traffic passes above. A crossing becomes a spectacle, giving people a reason to linger beside the river.
Low homes beside tall towers
Older low-rise blocks share the riverside view with new towers. Redevelopment proceeds in pieces, placing housing from different periods side by side.
The scale of a transfer station
Ceiling forms and lights repeat through a long underground passage. A busy interchange becomes an indoor street designed to accommodate movement and orientation.
Crossing on foot and by car
People walk and run beside vehicles under the bridge columns. One crossing accommodates everyday transport and the slower pace of exercise and leisure.
A route down to the river
A descending passage leads people and vehicles toward the water. Smaller access routes help connect neighborhoods with a riverbank separated from them by major roads.
Making room to stay by the water
Low structures and open walking space follow the river's edge. Urban leisure also depends on ordinary places where people can pause and look at the water.
Everyday shopping underground
Clothes and shoes line a bright passage used by shoppers. Sheltered from the weather, the underground route also functions as a place for routine shopping.
People close to the merchandise
Shoppers pass close to goods displayed along a narrow aisle. The compact arrangement produces a walking rhythm different from the open floors of a department store.
2010s
Lives between the buildings
Snowy paths, familiar shops, tree shade and rooftop gardens reveal smaller routines within a rapidly changing city.
The terminal in winter
Traffic continues in front of the terminal, with tall apartments behind. An established transport hub and newer homes bring different stages of Banpo into one view.
A new height beyond the overpass
Tall residential blocks stand behind the elevated road. While the traffic infrastructure remains, changing building heights alter the proportions of the surrounding street.
The main road after snow
Buses and cars line up between winter trees. Through changing seasons, the main road continues to carry commuting and transfer journeys.
Snow along the shopping street
Snow and tire tracks lie beside a row of low shops. Alongside new residential towers, the older commercial street retains a smaller, familiar scale.
Low-rise homes behind the shops
A long residential facade stands close to the commercial strip. This proximity puts many everyday needs inside or along the edge of the older complex.
The layout revealed by snow
Blocks and trees repeat along a snow-covered central route. Winter reveals the plan beneath summer greenery and makes the shared open spaces easier to see.
Winter just outside the front door
Snow remains around bare branches and low apartment blocks. Beyond large urban changes, these are the paths where everyday walking and maintenance continue.
Building a facility on the water
Materials and unfinished structures sit beneath a crane. Expanding riverside leisure also creates new construction sites along the boundary between land and water.
Summer within the city
Visitors gather around an outdoor pool beside the Han. Public leisure facilities make room for summer recreation without requiring a journey out of the city.
Waiting beside the coaches
Passengers gather under the platform canopy beside waiting buses. A large transport system takes human form in the time people spend preparing for their next journey.
New architecture on the waterfront
Rounded buildings sit on the river against bridges and apartments. The waterfront extends beyond walking routes to include destinations for meals and meetings.
An evening watching the fountain
People sit and stand beside the illuminated water. In front of a transport structure, the riverbank becomes a shared place to spend an evening.
Life on the river after dark
Lights from Sebitseom reflect on dark water. Evening views extend the hours of waterfront life beyond daytime walking and exercise.
Space to play between the blocks
An overhead view reveals recreation spaces between residential buildings. Apartment life depends on shared outdoor ground as well as the private space inside each home.
Finding a building by its number
A sign beneath trees points toward the management office and residential blocks. Small markers guide residents and visitors through a complex of similar buildings.
Time measured in tree shade
Large trees cover the space between blocks, paths and parked cars. Decades of growth create a residential environment that buildings alone cannot provide.
A garden cared for by residents
Plants grow in a small patch beside the balconies. Recorded as resident-maintained planting, this space carries personal care beyond the boundaries of individual flats.
A changing backdrop above low shops
Low shops follow the main road while taller buildings rise behind. Retail streets and redeveloped housing change at different speeds within the same neighborhood.
A facade marked by use
Repeated windows and balconies show traces of age. Apartments continue to change through occupation and maintenance long after the initial construction is complete.
Housework reaches the rooftop
Laundry and everyday objects appear on the long building's roof. Domestic work extends beyond the flat into shared space above the neighborhood.
Bicycles at a shared entrance
Bicycles and pots sit beside an entrance marked with a building number. Personal belongings meet shared circulation at the doorway used by many households.
Stairs leading to a neighborhood eatery
Handwriting covers the walls and ceiling of a staircase. Even a short route to a local eatery can accumulate traces of visits and become part of a place's memory.
A bakery beneath the apartments
A small bakery entrance sits among trees and signs below the homes. Shops close to housing become part of brief everyday visits rather than special trips.
A stationery shop for small errands
Signs advertise stationery, seals and copying above a compact storefront. Small shops support residential life by gathering many modest, recurring needs in one place.
A playground among the trees
Play equipment and places to rest sit beneath autumn trees. A playground within the complex is also a nearby setting where different daily routines meet.
Vegetables grown on the roof
Ordered vegetable beds occupy a flat roof above trees and homes. Using spare space for cultivation brings the rhythms of care and harvest into apartment life.
A familiar shop across the crossing
The Banpo Chicken sign faces a pedestrian crossing on a low building. Familiar eateries can become neighborhood landmarks as well as places to buy food.
Old Banpo among the trees
Low blocks extend through greenery with taller buildings in the distance. Their height and open spaces become clearer against the redeveloped surroundings.
A sofa outside the home
A large sofa stands beside a communal waste area. An object leaving the private home makes visible the shared work needed to keep residential life running.
Harvesting rooftop cabbages together
People gather and trim cabbages on a rooftop garden. Shared residential space supports not just circulation and maintenance but also collective work and encounters.
Since the 2010s
The same river, a different height
From Firstige and Banpo Xi through Acro River Park to One Bailey, changing heights still leave routes that connect everyday life.
Firstige and a new residential height
Tall, slender residential blocks rise behind a main road. Their scale and arrangement contrast with the low-rise Jugong landscape, reshaping Banpo's outline through redevelopment.
The road in front of Banpo Xi
A multilane road passes a large group of residential towers. Branded complexes become new landmarks while the main routes of city life continue alongside them.
New homes beside road and stream
Firstige towers stand near Sapyeong-daero and Banpocheon. Housing change also reshapes the view of streams, walking routes and roads beyond the buildings themselves.
A new face at the intersection
Two tall apartment buildings stand beyond a broad junction. Rebuilding a complex also redraws the everyday backdrop seen by people passing through the city.
Building the next skyline
Cranes and new structures rise near the river beside occupied apartments. Banpo's changing skyline emerged through successive construction sites rather than one single transformation.
A sports ground before the towers
A red track and green field spread out below tall apartments. In a denser residential city, generous public space for movement and gathering remains significant.
A changed face of riverside housing
Tall towers, broad access space and landscaped grounds appear together at Acro River Park. The whole complex becomes part of how contemporary housing presents itself.
A road between One Bailey's towers
A long road runs among towers of different heights and tones. Even as Banpo changes from low blocks to a vertical city, its routes continue to connect everyday lives.
Banpo redrawn beside the Han
One Bailey's towers form a new outline beyond open riverside ground. Beside the earlier low-rise photographs, this view makes the transformation of housing along the same river clear.