5th Shinyoung Cultural Foundation Architecture Culture Awards: Grand Prize Goes to Jihye Choi of Myongji University

"Learning Becomes Growth"

The Shinyoung Cultural Foundation announced on November 21 that it recently held the 5th Shinyoung Cultural Foundation Architecture Culture Awards at Somerset Palace Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Now in its fifth year, this event provides a platform for university students majoring in architecture in Korea to present their graduation projects, offering aspiring architects opportunities to grow through advice from senior architects.

Grand Prize Awarded for Project Reimagining Residential Spaces

Jihye Choi from Myongji University Department of Architecture is posing for a commemorative photo after receiving the grand prize at the 5th Shinyoung Cultural Foundation Architecture Culture Awards on the 19th. Photo by Shinyoung

This year, 185 graduation projects by architecture students from universities across Korea were submitted, with 12 works selected as award winners.

The Grand Prize went to Jihye Choi from the Department of Architecture at Myongji University for her project "Behind the Scenes." The work received high praise for reinterpreting familiar residential spaces and presenting a floor plan that explores the concept of reproductive labor.

The Excellence Award was given to Rowoon Lee from the Department of Architecture at Kyung Hee University for "Geomorphic Tectonic," while the Merit Award went to Sungjun Kong from the Department of Architecture at Myongji University for "The Ways of Lænding." In addition, five Encouragement Prizes and four Honorable Mentions were awarded.

The total prize money amounted to 25 million won. The Grand Prize winner received 10 million won, and the Excellence Award winner received 5 million won. All awardees are offered the opportunity to participate in architect mentoring programs.

Focus on 'Dialogue' Rather Than 'Evaluation'

A distinctive feature of this competition is that the judging process is conducted as a two-way dialogue, rather than a one-sided evaluation. Finalists for the second round present their works directly to the judges and receive immediate feedback.

Architect Yerin Kang, a professor at the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University and a judge this year, commented, "I felt that the next generation of architecture is opening up through the students' broad perspectives and new approaches. Sharing opinions provided an opportunity to reconsider the roles and possibilities of architecture."

Along with Kang, the judging panel included architect Sooyoung Kim (CEO of Soombi Architecture), architect Jungim Kim (CEO of Sero Architects), and architect Hyuna Jung (CEO of DIA Architecture).

The Shinyoung Cultural Foundation is a non-profit organization established based on the philosophy of Shinyoung Group, which is "to create the optimal spaces and places for human life." The foundation carries out various projects to support the creative activities of talents in the fields of fine arts and architectural arts.

A foundation representative stated, "Next month, we also plan to launch a program supporting graduation projects by students majoring in spatial installation art. We will continue to serve as a public-interest foundation connecting art, space, and people."

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