Seocho-gu Non-face-to-face Screening Clinic Wins Korea Public Design Award

The Best Academic Research Award Goes to 'Smartbyeongwon's Medical Service Scape Design...'

The COVID-19 contactless screening clinic in Seocho-gu, Seoul, will receive the Korea Public Design Award.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft & Design Foundation announced the results of the '2020 Korea Public Design Award' competition on the 15th. The grand prize (Prime Minister's Award) went to the 'COVID-19 Response, Public Design Contactless (Untact) Screening Clinic Protecting Everyone's Safety,' which is the first contactless screening clinic in Korea. By applying a non-contact, pedestrian mobile spatial design in the screening process, it ensured the safety of medical staff, testees, and residents. It also received high evaluations for safety, efficiency, and sustainability as it can respond to other infectious diseases. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained, "We formed a task force by field and gathered opinions from residents, medical staff, and operating departments to establish the nation's first differentiated contactless screening clinic," adding, "It has been praised by residents and the media, and has attracted attention from government agencies, local governments, the United States, France, and others, becoming a benchmark."

The Excellence Award in the project category (Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award) was awarded to the 'Space Design and Community Design of the Ulju Mountain Film Festival' by the Ulju Mountain Film Festival and the Independent Research Institute. The 'Tangeumho Rainbow Road Light Creation Project' by ULP, 'Playing with Culture. Dreaming Happiness School' by Gangdong-gu, Seoul, 'Hwaseong 3.1 Movement Manse Road' by Hwaseong City and SOP, and 'Yeongdo Modern History Trace Map' by Yeongdo-gu, Busan, and CAT were selected for the Excellence Award.

In the academic research category, the top prize went to 'A Study on the Characteristics of Medical Service Scape Design in Smart Hospitals' by Deputy Manager Kim Seryeon of Seoul Asan Hospital. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated, "It received high marks for defining general hospital wards in Korea as public spaces and deriving public design elements to be considered in the medical field." Researcher Hong Tae-ui of Hongik University Public Design Research Center received the Excellence Award for 'A Study on Public Design Policies, Systems, and Projects for Solving Social Problems,' and Professor Oh Seongjin of Gyeongnam Information University and Professor Kim Seoktae of Inje University received the Special Award (Victor Margolin Award) for 'Exhibition Typology Based on Viewing Behavior and Exhibition Space Improvement Using Discrete Event Simulation.'

In the non-competition category focusing on improving public design administrative services, Gangnam-gu, Seoul (Excellence Award), Jeollabuk-do, Dongjak-gu, Seoul (both Excellence Awards), Busan, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, and Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do (all Honorable Mentions) were honored. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained, "We comprehensively evaluated regional public design promotion plans, integrated ordinance revisions, professional personnel and organizational composition, and institutional improvements based on these." Professor Lee Soonjong, an emeritus professor at Seoul National University who was in charge of judging, said, "There was a regret that award-winning regions were relatively concentrated in the metropolitan area depending on whether administrative systems and professional organizations were well organized," but added, "We were able to confirm frontline efforts to improve public design administrative services. We hope this result will gather local governments' interest in strengthening public design administrative capabilities."

The awards ceremony will be held on the 5th of next month at Culture Station Seoul 284 RTO. From the day of the ceremony, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Craft & Design Foundation will introduce the winning works through an online exhibition for two weeks.