Forest Park / Seoul Grand Park

I had this idea that I was going to do a post called 'St. Louis Dinosaurs  /  Korean Dinosaurs,' and I had all sorts of stuff I wanted to include.  Like the big Sinclair Dinosaur from the Seodaemun National Museum of Natural History, his skinless cousins inside, and the guy I excavated in the playground outside.

Burying a metal skeleton under a playground is a brilliant idea.  I couldn't help but spend ten minutes digging and brushing. 

Things got a bit crazy, and I never got around to posting about dinosaurs.  Which is a good thing, because I have since found a lot more dinos. 

The Science Museum in Seoul is rather abandoned, and was closed the two times I tried to go.  It seems to government forgot about it.  There's a flashy new Gwacheon National Science Museum in a place called 'Seoul Grand Park' which is in fact not in Seoul at all, but in a suburb to the south. 

Seoul Grand Park is a museum district with a theme park, an art museum, a botanical garden, a zoo, and a giant science museum.  It's set in the mountains outside the city.

The new science museum was a huge disappointment for me personally.  It's another one of those flashy new money pits from the government that's more depressing than wowing.  Yet again, there seems to be some confusion between science and technology.  Science is the name used, and technology is what is displayed.  The museum is huge, and not at all reaching its potential.  Hopefully in time it will mature and become more interesting.  The dinosaurs are in the back next to a big wall of geological time (excellent idea). 

The museum is like a giant spaceship, and it's an amazing thing to see coming out of a subway exit.  The huge brick plaza in the front is sun-baked and empty, but the majority of the land is taken up by the gardens in the back (with the dinosaurs). 

The subway station is right in the middle of the park, under the giant parking lot.

The last time I went to visit the art museum, I came up from the subway into the parking lot and walked around the lake past the theme park and over a hill before I could see any outdoor sculptures. 

The only space that is shared by all the institutions in Seoul Grand Park is the lake and the parking lot.  The science park is behind the science museum.  The art park is next to and behind the art museum.  The zoo is just all by itself way up the mountain.  Each carries its own high admission's price, and each is a separate day's adventure.  They are islands to each other.  There is no real benefit to their close proximity.

The dinosaurs in St. Louis are in Forest Park, next to a bike path,

Hands down, the Gwacheon National Science Museum beats the St. Louis Science Center in terms of budget, environmental impact, and emptiness.  Yet, the tiny St. Louis Science Center is clearly the better institution in terms of positioning. 

Whereas the institutions in Seoul Grand Park are cloistered islands sharing a parking lot, the institutions in Forest Park are landmarks in a shared urban park.  Each enhances the others. 

The dinosaurs at the St. Louis Science Center are in the park proper, where they can be seen for free by anyone passing.  They are not hidden behind the building set away from the park like in Gwacheon.

All the Forest Park museums are free.  Each institution in Seoul Grand Park charges a hefty admission, and each is seen individually once a year or so.  Everything in Forest Park is free, so you can see them all in one day, once a week.  You can visit on a whim and leave on one too.

Recognizing that the park is a shared commodity and that the institutions are landmarks, each institution should project themselves a bit more into the park.  The Science Center could put up more than dinosaurs.  The Zoo could claim Turtle Park and put up more animal sculptures between (like the big tiger in Seoul Grand Park).  The SLAM could really take the Grand Basin as its own.  The history museum can bring in more than just a streetcar.  If each had its own zone of influence and they overlapped slightly, it'd make Forest Park easier to navigate, and more exciting.

Rather that invest in a private campus with a large fence and gate, the four big institutions in Forest Park can be completely open.  The more entrances the better.  It's free, so there's no need to keep track of people.  They should take over a zone of influence in the park, an adjacent neighborhood in the city (like Dogtown for the Zoo), an entrance to the park, and an approach that goes far into the city.  My suggestions are in the map above.

Forest Park is surrounded by the city, not mountains.  People should know that Hampton takes them to the Zoo.  Clayton Avenue goes to the Science Center.  Forsyth goes to the Art Museum (or Shaw Park).  The St. Vincent Greenway goes to the History Museum. 

The park is shared, and deserves to be invested in.  Thank goodness it isn't a parking lot.  Thank goodness its in the heart of our region and therefore shared by all of us.  It isn't set in a mountain valley somewhere around Desoto.