Man v. Machine, Garry v. Gary

Today, LEE Se-dol lost to Google DeepMind's AlphaGo the first game of their man-vs-machine series held at the Four Seasons Seoul. Even the background color was Deep Blue (sorry Garry Kasparov for rubbing it in).

AlphaGo (white stones) Lee Sedol (black stones) live on @YouTube (rolling stones)
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/707440795146690560
Meanwhile, Kim Jong-un is pushing his grey stone on the board game
twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/707458086634700800

As far as victories go, this one was much more predictable than the one of Bernie Sanders in Michigan. And as far as go victories go, AlphaGo already defeated a master last January. Even if Korea sent her most creative and disruptive player, singularity is still not for tomorrow (see on my innovation blog ""Fourth Industrial Revolution" passed Go, but singularity not yet a stone's throw away"). For the moment, to paraphrase Gary Linecker, "go is a simple game: men and machines chase stones for a few hours and at the end, Google always win".

So just to be on the safe side, don't forget to check every now and then your Google and Facebook settings.


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"K-Experience Culture Complex" To Replace KAL's Songhyeon-Dong Project. Really?

The Songhyeon-dong drama reminds me of the 'Trou des Halles' feuilleton in Paris. In both cases, a massive lot in the dead center of the capital remains empty for years while all stakeholders debate over its purpose. I wish a better ending to Seoul than the site of the former Paris wholesale market: then mayor Jacques Chirac opted for the behemoth of an urban mess that to this day cripples the city center (under renovation, Le Forum des Halles will reopen next year).

Left: Les Halles, Paris (from the 'trou des Halles' to the Forum des Halles to the new - and improved? - Forum des Halles) / Right: Songhyeon-dong, Seoul (from a hole in downtown Seoul to Mario Botta's caprice for KAL, to...?)

In case you missed the previous episodes*: 

• Korean Air wants to build a 7-star hotel on prime land, the 30,000 sqm site formerly used for US Embassy staff in Songhyeon-dong, between the Gyeongbokgung and Insadong. 
• To tame conservationists opposed to the project, KAL pledges to give it a 'hanok-ish' look.
• But the main hurdle is legal: regulations forbid certain activities in the vicinity of schools. Intense lobbying to move the school and change the law ensues.
• CHO Hyun-ah's "Nutrage" incident torpedoes KAL's ambitions on a land Hanjin Group (the chaebol piloted by her family) doesn't even own
• Last May emerges a new path, more culture-oriented:

twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/600102138790825984 (20150518 @theseoulvillage)

Since yesterday's presser**, we have a clearer picture of what may come next:

• all the land shall be occupied by a "K-Experience Culture Center", to be completed by 2017
• the government and Hanjin Group shall collaborate on the project
• the building will respect hanok architecture, but with top notch technologies
• no hotel (even if KAL didn't abandon all hope), no casino - but no formal pledge that they'll never appear...

Authorities seem trapped by binding engagements with Hanjin. Politically, they cannot let KAL do what they want, or they would face public outcry. But at the end of the day, behind the cultural alibi, the group must somehow get some decently fat cash cow to milk.

This "traditional" "K-Experience Culture Center" is a classic gimmick for empty cultural shells build in downtown Seoul, and I don't think that at this stage authorities have more clues about how they will fill it than they do for the similar hanokish traditional center planned across Changdeokgung (see "Gwanghwamun, Donhwamun, and the Tale of two Royal Roads"). Expect some tribute paid to long-gone Choseon landmarks.

Worse: the "K-Experience" part has the sirupy "hallyu" flavor Korea must ASAP stop spreading all across its cultural spectrum (see "Heralding cultural diversity - a stronger and more sustainable Korean Wave"). That's more like the "classic gimmick for empty cultural shells" built on the other side of the river (BTW yet another kpoop / kdrama center has been announced near Jamsil).

Meanwhile, on the other side of Sejong-daero, the Four Seasons Seoul is getting ready for inauguration (October). The 'hanok' touch lies mostly on its curves (not to mention Hwang Ran's installation in the lobby!)...

Hanok curves for the Four Seasons Seoul (Jongno, Seoul) - twitter.com/theseoulvillage/status/631776061731139585

... and Airbnb keeps growing its base in the Korean capital, still under regulatory radars...

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* e.g. "From The Outside, KAL's "7 Star Hanok Hotel" Showcases Excellence in Freight", ""Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed"
** featuring the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as KAL's JO Seong-bae - see "[일문일답] 조성배 대한항공 상무 "송현동 부지에 호텔 건립 포함 안돼"" (Newsis 20150818) or "Korean Air hotel plan turns into culture center" (KJD 20150819)

Four Seasons Seoul

Just to wrap up my January 2012 post on Mirae Asset's luxury hotel project in Gwanghwamun ("A 6 Star Hotel in Gwanghwamun?"), which as expected went to Four Seasons, and will open on May 2015:

See also "Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts enters Korea" (Four Seasons PR 20130904)

For the prestigious hotel group, Seoul fills a gap in an increasingly strategic region. Mirae Asset confirm their ambitions in hospitality businesses: they bought the Four Seasons Sydney a few days before the deal was announced (from Eureka Funds Management, see "Four Seasons sold for $340 million" - The Sydney Morning Herald 20130821), and also pilot the Courtyard by Marriott in Pangyo.

Now I realize that I never shared any image of a project I often pass by. Well the working site is not that spectacular...

March 14, 2013 (much more advanced today!)

... and the architecture not very original either:




The future 317-room hotel near Sejongno Sageori

 
As far as office spaces are concerned, Gwanghwamun area has been dotted with many new towers over the past years, and in order to fill them, operators had to suck tenants out of older and lower tier buildings. If many hotels will open across Seoul in the months and years to come, this shouldn't be the case for a hospitality franchise targeting elites.

Still, competition will be fierce. Particularly since all major players have completed renovation, most recently their main rival, The Shilla Seoul, which at last decided to act as a leader by opening a high end Korean restaurant: even if they don't make a fortune with 'La Yeon', that's a higher calling (see "Korean Cuisine Aiming At World's Top Five. China is watching"). I would be disappointed if Four Seasons Seoul failed to propose fine Korean dining.


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A 6 Star Hotel in Gwanghwamun?

If Korean Air's ambitious 7-Star 'hanokish' hotel near Anguk* remains on hold, Mirae Asset's project for a 6-Star hotel at Gwanghwamun Station seems back on tracks.

As we saw earlier, many office buildings are to be delivered over the next few months and years in this area, and across the capital, some projects are already being partly converted into hotel rooms because the boom in tourism is expected to continue as Seoul catches up with rival world magnets. No wonder Jongno-gu wanted developpers to come up with something different than the office space initially planned at this prestigious address (Gwanghwamun Naegeori or the Saemunan-ro / Sejongdae-ro intersection).

We first heard about the project last March but today, more details were released in the media: 26 floors, 316 to 348 rooms, and an inauguration scheduled for 2016. To operate the hotel, Mirae would love to deal with Four Seasons. The franchise usually settles for buildings with a long history but here, the location is loaded with culture and history : in Shinmunro, between Gwanghwamun Square and Gyeonghuigung, just opposite Cheonggyecheon, and halfway between Gyeongbokgung/Seochon and Deoksugung/City Hall**. Bonus: a relatively low competitive pressure (not far from the Koreana Hotel, but clearly in a different area than the Westin or the Plaza).

Hankyung (Korea Economic Daily) published an update of the tourist hotels under construction in Seoul (""외국인 관광객 잡아라" 서울 도심 호텔 6000실 '공사중'"): a total of 6,000 rooms, and a few other Jongno-gu projects (JW Marriot in Jongno 6-ga, Waterfront in Gwansu-dong, and Ibis Ambassador in Ikseon-dong).

I hope the sketch presented in that article as the future Gwanghwamun landmark is just a first draft.

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*"Korean Air Grounded : Seoul 7 Star Hotel Delayed"
** and don't forget Baekundongcheon ("Baekundongcheon / Gwanghwamun-gil - A River Runs Through It")!