A team led by planning, design and engineering firm AECOM, which drew from its Melbourne, New York and San Francisco studios, has won an international competition for a concept design and feasibility study for Seoul Grand Park in Korea.

The winning entry, Gaia: The Living World, envisions an integrated entertainment and educational experience that revitalises the urban realm and showcases Korean heritage.

Seoul Grand Park, a 560h destination with an existing zoo and an amusement park, has provided an important entertainment and recreational function to the community for 30 years.

The AECOM team, supported by local South Korean firms Ga-One Landscape Design and Group Han Associates, as well as Thinkwell Design & Production and Bernard Harrison & Friends, conducted an economic analysis and created a design that combines the amusement park, zoo and botanical garden with new attractions.

The winning design proposed new attractions, including the Australasian Bio-Pavillian, Seoul Walk and Lakeside Park, Tree Top Village, Night Safari at the Great Savanna, Korean Forest, Jungle Cruise and an entry Winter Garden.

The proposal opens the entire lakefront for community use, reconnecting the city to the waterfront and breaking down the traditional segregated organisational structure of visitor attractions and programming.