Seoul to transform former bus depot into deep tech startup hub

A former public bus depot in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul is set to be transformed into a deep tech startup hub for the city's southwestern districts, with space for more than 600 entrepreneurs.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Sunday that it has selected "Emptied Corner, Three Building Clusters," submitted by architecture firm Pumsa, as the winning design in a competition for Seoul Startup Hub Gwanak — the centerpiece of the Gwanak S-Valley innovation cluster.

The project site is the former Sillim No. 3 public bus depot, which recently completed its relocation. The city plans to invest 99.2 billion won ($70.1 million) to build office space for tenant companies, specialized deep tech support facilities, dedicated research and demonstration facilities, and a public parking lot open to local residents. The city is targeting completion in the second half of 2031.

The office space will accommodate roughly 600 people. The complex will also include rest and cultural spaces for young entrepreneurs and local residents alike, combining startup support functions with community amenities.

Rather than erecting a single large building, the winning design divides the complex into three separate structures and creates an open park at the corner of the site.

The structural cores are placed at the corners of each building, freeing up wide, flexible interior spaces for a variety of uses. The multi-building layout also reduces the visual pressure that a large-scale structure would otherwise impose on the surrounding residential neighborhood.

Seoul Startup Hub Gwanak is designed to support the launch and growth of companies in deep tech fields including robotics, AI and biotechnology. Drawing on the research strengths concentrated around Nakseongdae, Sillim and Seoul National University — the area that forms Gwanak S-Valley — the hub will connect universities, research institutions, companies and investors, and provide support from the early startup stage through to scale-up.

The city plans to develop Seoul Startup Hub Gwanak into a southwestern startup anchor that links the entrepreneurial ecosystem across Gwanak S-Valley and supports deep tech firms through research, demonstration and growth.

The design competition also marked the first time AI voice-modulation technology was used in the second-round presentation review of a public architecture competition.

"We introduced the technology to prevent presenters from being identified by their voices, thereby strengthening the fairness of the blind review process," a Seoul city official said. "We ran preliminary tests to ensure there would be no communication problems during the live question-and-answer sessions."

"We are turning a space that served as a bus depot for many years into an innovation startup hub for the southwestern part of the city," said Ahn Dae-hee, the city's director of future space planning. "We will make Gwanak S-Valley the center of deep tech entrepreneurship in South Korea."