"How to Utilize Empty Houses"... Seoul City Holds Citizen Contest

From October 20th for 3 days
Exhibition of Award-Winning Works at the October Seoul Architecture Culture Festival

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 8th that it will hold the "Vacant House Utilization Idea Citizen Contest" in collaboration with Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation (SH).

This contest was organized to explore creative and diverse ways to utilize vacant houses. The city and SH are purchasing vacant houses left unattended in the area and supplying them as rental housing, village parking lots, community gardens, and more.

The contest will take place from the 20th to the 23rd of next month. It targets 96 vacant house sites owned and managed by SH. Individuals or teams (up to 2 people) can participate by proposing ideas for utilizing vacant houses or submitting architectural design works such as parks or rest areas.

After the submission deadline, a first round of screening will exclude inappropriate works such as plagiarism, duplicates, or incomplete entries. Then, a second judging committee composed of experts will select the winning entries. The announcement is scheduled for September 20.

A total of 24 works will be selected, 12 from each contest category. The total prize money amounts to 12.1 million KRW. The city plans to exhibit the winning works at the Seoul Architecture Festival to be held in October. Feasible ideas will be actively reflected in next year’s vacant house utilization project.

Han Byung-yong, Director of the Housing Office at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "We hope that the vacant houses left unattended can be reborn through citizens’ fresh and diverse ideas," and added, "We look forward to citizens’ interest and participation in the vacant house utilization contest."

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