Seodaemun-gu's 'Sinchon, Paranggorae' Wins Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award

2020 Korea Land Grand Prize 'Utilization of Idle Spaces for Urban Regeneration' Category... Praised as an Open Space 'Breaking Boundaries Between Parks and Buildings to Enhance Cultural Activities'

Moon Seok-jin, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu (right), is receiving the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award from Son Myung-soo, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, at the '2020 Korea Land Grand Prize' held on the 16th of this month at the auditorium of the Korea Institute of Architects in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seodaemun-gu (Mayor Moon Seok-jin) announced on the 21st that it recently won the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award at the ‘2020 Korea Land Grand Prize’ hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements for the ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae Establishment and Operation’ project.

Now in its 12th year, the ‘Korea Land Grand Prize’ is an event that discovers and awards creative cases that have improved landscape design in the country’s land and urban spaces under the motto ‘Elegant Land, Beautiful Scenery.’

Previously, the district received the Presidential Award in 2015 for the Sinchon Yonsei-ro Public Transportation-Only Zone Development Project and won a special category award in 2018 for the Ihwa 52nd Street Development Project.

This year, the ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae’ project, selected as the Minister’s Award winner in the ‘Utilization of Idle Spaces for Urban Regeneration’ category, is an urban regeneration anchor facility established in May last year at Changcheon Culture Park, located in the heart of Sinchon.

Before the opening of ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae,’ Changcheon Culture Park was considered an idle space as it failed to function as a resting place due to the presence of intoxicated people and homeless individuals.

However, through the ‘Sinchon Urban Regeneration Project’ that began in 2015, the district listened to residents’ opinions for park environment improvement and gathered various ideas from local merchants and youth to promote the construction of ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae’ and the park’s redevelopment project.

Since then, Changcheon Culture Park has transformed into a community space where citizens can comfortably stay. ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae,’ located here, was designed with an exterior resembling a whale’s mouth and unique architectural materials to feel like a sculpture within the park.

In particular, at this year’s Land Grand Prize, it received high praise as “an open space that breaks down the boundaries between the park and the building, strengthening cultural activities as it connects Sinchon Yonsei-ro to Changcheon Culture Park and ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae.’”

‘Sinchon, Paranggorae’ operates as a ‘youth culture hub’ where university students, youth, and merchants in the Sinchon area gather to interact, plan, execute, and present regional linkage projects, in line with its establishment purpose as “the center of the youth culture network and a cultural urban regeneration space to revitalize local culture and the Sinchon commercial district.”

Moon Seok-jin, Mayor of Seodaemun-gu, stated, “I hope that this award will serve as an opportunity for ‘Sinchon, Paranggorae’ to receive more love as an open space that revitalizes local culture and commerce and communicates with youth and residents.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.