Seoul City Remodels Aging 'Sillip Surak Nursing Home' into Zero Energy Building

Namsan Creative Center Followed by Public Buildings Converted to Zero-Energy Buildings... Winning Design 'House Regeneration' Unveiled
Windows Installed on Roof Top for Increased Natural Lighting and Ventilation

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The aging ‘Municipal Surak Nursing Home,’ which has long served as a resting place for the elderly, is being reborn as an eco-friendly building that maximizes energy efficiency by introducing light and air into the interior of the building.

On the 29th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will remodel the aging ‘Municipal Surak Nursing Home’ into a Zero Energy Building (ZEB) that maximizes energy efficiency. The winning design proposal, titled ‘Regeneration of a House,’ was revealed to establish the optimal design plan. A Zero Energy Building refers to a green building that minimizes energy demand and maximizes efficiency through maximizing insulation performance (passive), replacing with high-efficiency equipment (active), and producing renewable energy.

This project is part of the city’s 2050 Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plan, which aims for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is the second project following the ‘Namsan Creative Center,’ the first public building conversion to a Zero Energy Building.

Seoul plans to actively showcase Zero Energy pilot models for city-owned public buildings to encourage private sector adoption and enhance greenhouse gas reduction effects in the building sector, which accounts for 68.8% of Seoul’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The ‘Municipal Surak Nursing Home’ consists of two buildings: the main building completed in 1992 and an annex added in 2008. After nearly 30 years, the buildings have aged, resulting in poor conditions such as wall cracks and pipe leaks, and deteriorated energy performance that requires improvement.

Through green remodeling, Seoul aims to convert the ‘Municipal Surak Nursing Home’ into a Zero Energy Building while applying a ‘barrier-free’ design throughout the entire space to improve the elderly residents’ satisfaction, convenience, and ease of movement.

Along with facility and equipment replacement, eco-friendly design techniques such as passive design and renewable energy will be applied to improve energy efficiency to ZEB grade 5 or higher. ZEB grade 5 requires a building energy efficiency rating of 1++ or higher, securing an energy self-sufficiency rate of 20% or more, and installation of remote metering devices.

The winning design, ‘Regeneration of a House,’ proposes connecting the two buildings through an extension to create ‘one house.’ To reduce energy consumption and create a comfortable indoor environment, windows will be installed on the roof to allow essential elements such as light and air to flow inside the building. This actively introduces natural lighting to reduce lighting energy and facilitates air circulation, maximizing energy efficiency.

The ‘barrier-free’ design eliminates level differences between existing bedrooms and common areas and expands bathroom space to enhance mobility and convenience for the elderly.

The winning team will be granted priority negotiation rights for the basic and detailed design contracts. Seoul plans to complete the basic and detailed designs by November and begin construction in December, aiming to finish the project by June 2022. The design competition was conducted as a proposal contest to select excellent designers, considering the project’s need to address various challenges.

Kang Jae-sik, Senior Researcher at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology and chair of the judging panel, said, “The evaluation focused on building energy efficiency and feasibility, spatial composition and convenience considering the user characteristics of the nursing home, in line with the purpose and goals of the Zero Energy Building conversion project.” He added, “The winning design excellently proposed building energy performance plans and spatial composition from the perspective of convenience and users according to the building’s purpose.”

Lee Dong-ryul, Director of the Climate Change Response Division at Seoul City, said, “Through this design competition, we have presented a Zero Energy pilot model for the building sector, which accounts for 68.8% of greenhouse gas emissions.” He added, “We will do our best to lead greenhouse gas reduction in the building sector publicly and promote its spread to private buildings, serving as a catalyst for realizing carbon neutrality policies.”

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