Busan City's Reverse Thinking, City Hall Lobby as a 'Public Library'... Open Library Design Proposal Contest

Busan City Hall Lobby Transforms into Cultural Space Reflecting 15-Minute City Vision

Designated as No.1 Spot for Citizens' Healing and Recovery through Books and Culture

Busan City Hall Open Library Rendering.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The lobby of Busan City Hall is being transformed into a reading culture space. It is a reversal of the usual concept, turning the busy first floor of the metropolitan city hall, where citizens come and go for administrative civil affairs, into a cultural facility for reading books.

On the 9th, Busan City announced that it will hold a design proposal competition to create the first-floor lobby of the city hall, the first of its kind in a metropolitan city, into an open reading culture space for citizens called the ‘Busan City Hall Open Library.’

Busan City will invest 3.4 billion KRW from national and city funds to integrate part of the first-floor lobby of the city hall and the current municipal information resource room on the third floor. This project aims to create a public library with a collection of 30,000 books and an area of 1,240.15㎡.

Considering the special nature of the Busan City Hall Open Library, located within the city hall and visited not only by citizens but also by people from other regions and foreigners, the design proposal competition method was adopted to enhance its public value.

Unlike a design competition that evaluates completed design plans, this competition selects a designer by comprehensively evaluating proposals that describe the designer’s experience, capabilities, execution plans, and methods.

The final results will be announced on August 10 after two rounds of evaluation.

The winner will be granted the design rights for the Busan City Hall Open Library, with basic and detailed design phases lasting three months, followed by construction starting in December and the opening scheduled for the first half of 2022.

With the creation of the Busan City Hall Open Library, the lobby will break away from its rigid city hall image. It will be reborn as an open reading space with a modern and stylish interior featuring a caf? and bookstore style that reflects Busan’s uniqueness.

Mayor Park Hyung-joon said, “We will actively promote cultural policies to expand the 15-minute city living zone.”

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