Who would have thought the humble Ferris wheel would one day become a tourism symbol for many countries? Speaking of which, South Korea is going to one too and it will not be just any old Ferris wheel, it would be the world’s biggest spokeless Ferris wheel.
The spokeless Ferris wheel is aptly called Seoul Ring because it indeed looks like a ring without the spokes found on regular Ferris wheels. But the name isn’t just literal. With its location of choice, which is at Haneul Park near the North Korea border, the Seoul Metropolitan Government expresses its “desire and wishes for a unified Korea and national unity on the Ring.”
Haneul Park is located in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, on a former landfill site. The location will allow visitors to see the Hangang River, downtown Seoul, Namsan Mountain, and even Bukhansan Mountain.
When completed, the Seoul Ring will replace Shandong province’s Bohai Eye (145 meters or 475 feet tall) as the world’s biggest spokeless Ferris wheel at 180 meters (591 feet) tall.
The Seoul Ring will have 36 carriages, each capable of accommodating up to 25 people. However, little is known about the engineering aspect of this ambitious structure. If I am going to do an educated guess, then I would say it would share the same operating principle as the Bohai Eye.
Construction of the Seoul Ring spokeless Ferris wheel will commence by 2025.
Images: Seoul Metropolitan Government.
via designboom.