Dunamu Hosts "Digital Healing Garden Contest"... Grand Prize Goes to "AI-NFT Integrated Garden"

Dunamu, the operator of the virtual asset exchange Upbit, announced on the 16th that it held an awards ceremony for the "Digital Healing Garden Contest" in collaboration with the Korea Forest Service, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the Korea Arboretum and Garden Management Agency (hereafter referred to as HANSUJUNG).

The awards ceremony took place on the 15th at the National Sejong Arboretum, attended by Choi Youngtae, Director General of Forest Protection at the Korea Forest Service; Lee Suyeon, Director General of Garden City at the Seoul Metropolitan Government; Lee Sumin, Head of ESG Impact at Dunamu; Han Donggil, Director of the National Garden Culture Center; and other officials.

The Digital Healing Garden is a virtual forest and immersive healing space created by Dunamu through digital technology. By recreating landscapes on an LED-based media facade and adding sensory elements such as sound, scent, and temperature, it offers psychological and emotional healing as if one were in a real forest. During the 2025 Seoul International Garden Expo, it attracted 34,638 visitors, drawing attention as a "garden of the future" where people can experience the vitality of nature within the city.

This contest was organized to enhance the effectiveness of the Digital Healing Garden. There were two categories: ▲Spatial Model Proposals and ▲Content and Program Development. After the first round of document screening, expert mentoring, and a second round of presentations, a total of six teams were selected as the final winners.

The Grand Prize (Korea Forest Service Director General’s Award) went to Team CALLA, consisting of So Jiwon and Jang Juwon, students of the Ecological Landscape Architecture Convergence major at Korea University; Kim Seoyeon, a student in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Seoul; and Ryu Hyunseong, a student in the Department of Mobile Software and Web Engineering at Hansung University.

Team CALLA presented "My Fractal Garden," an innovative healing space model inspired by the geometric structure of fractals-where small parts of nature resemble the whole-combining artificial intelligence (AI) and non-fungible token (NFT) technologies.

In "My Fractal Garden," users can interact with real plants using AI technology. The system visualizes waves generated by combining personal biometric data and the unique frequencies of plants to create fractal images. Each generated fractal image is converted into an NFT and expands into a "Fractal Tree" that forms the digital forest. Through this, users can not only interact with plants but also experience a primal healing that immerses them in nature itself. The judging panel praised it as "an exemplary case of convergence that breaks down the boundaries between different disciplines and achieves harmony between nature and technology."

The Excellence Award (Seoul Mayor’s Award) was given to Park Junghyuk for "Calm Re:turn - A Digital Healing Garden That Returns My Pace," which utilizes extended reality (XR) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Designed as a booth-type garden for office workers, it maximizes the healing experience in a limited space by adjusting video, lighting, and scent based on survey data.

Other award-winning ideas included "Rest Garden" content that reflects real-time emotional states using AI and an XR plant-planting experience platform for the elderly. The winning entries will be incorporated into the actual operation of the Digital Healing Garden and used to further develop healing programs for citizens and organizations in the future.

Oh Kyungseok, CEO of Dunamu, stated, "This contest demonstrated how technology can recreate and expand nature, just as the Digital Healing Garden aspires to do," adding, "We will continue to discover new value in technology through various initiatives and contribute to a sustainable future."

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