Gangnam-gu Public Design Awards Double Celebration... Also Recognized on the Global Stage

On the 28th, Grand Prize Winner at the 21st Design for Asia Awards (DFA) Hosted by Hong Kong Design Centre -
Earlier on the 23rd, Swept Two Categories at the Global Design It Awards Hosted by Korea Design Industry Federation -
Yeoksam 1-dong Life Safety Design Honored with Three Awards This Year, Daechi-dong Sprez Free Zone Recognized for Excellence in Service Design

Gangnam-gu (District Mayor Jo Seong-myeong)'s public design has achieved consecutive awards at global design competitions.

On the 28th, Yeoksam 1-dong Safety Living Design received the top prize, the Grand Award, at the 21st Design for Asia Awards (DFA) held at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Organized by the Hong Kong Design Centre and supported by Create Hong Kong under the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, the DFA is Asia's most prestigious design award recognizing outstanding designs that solve social issues.

Earlier on the 23rd, Gangnam-gu swept two categories at the Global Design it Award, an internationally recognized design award hosted by the Korea Design Industry Federation with entries from designers in 25 countries. Yeoksam 1-dong Safety Living Design won the Gold Award in the Environmental Design category, and Daechi-dong Stress Free Zone received the Silver Award in the Service Design category. Notably, Yeoksam 1-dong Safety Living Design also earned the Prime Minister’s Award at the Korea Crime Prediction Awards on November 10, making it a triple crown winner this year.

The Yeoksam 1-dong Safety Living Design project applied 20 types of safety design solutions to 40 buildings and alleys over a 730-meter section in a densely populated multi-family and multi-household area (around Teheran-ro 51-gil, Teheran-ro 53-gil, and Eonju-ro 98-gil), where many single-person households reside. From the initial phase, a public-private-police governance program involving local residents, police, and experts was introduced to deeply analyze local issues and derive improvement plans. To address problems such as dark and narrow alleys and low-rise residential intrusions, lighting-type flowerbed fences were installed on neglected flowerbeds and trees, and detachable louver-type fences were installed on basement windows. As a result, compared to before improvements (2021), crimes such as robbery and residential intrusion decreased by about 30% in 2022.

The Daechi-dong Stress Free Zone also received high praise for improving the local environment through public design by directly involving residents in a public-private governance workshop to identify problems and solutions in the Daechi-dong academy district. Noting the lack of spaces where students, who frequent the academy area, can take a short break, five student-only therapy zones of about 1.5 pyeong each were installed on sidewalks. These include three Refresh Therapy Zones (at Dogok-ro 510), one Sound Therapy Zone (at Dogok-ro 505), and one Fitness Therapy Zone (at Dogok-ro 435), offering various types of rest.

Jo Seong-myeong, Mayor of Gangnam-gu, stated, “All these award-winning projects are exemplary cases of public design where community members collaboratively tackled local issues. Based on Gangnam-gu’s public design capabilities recognized on the global stage, we will lead public design in South Korea.”

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