Seocho-gu Untact Screening Clinic Wins 'Korea Public Design Award'

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hosts '2020 Korea Public Design Awards' Seo Wins Grand Prize (Prime Minister's Award)... Following 2018 Wins for 'Seoripul Wondumak,' 'Seoripul Iglu,' and 'Ondol Flower Seat'

Exterior view of Seocho-gu Untact Screening Clinic

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seocho-gu announced on the 8th that its Untact Screening Clinic won the highest award, the Prime Minister's Award, at the '2020 Korea Public Design Awards' hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The 'Korea Public Design Awards' is known as the most prestigious and fair design award in Korea, selecting and rewarding exemplary cases of public design to broaden the cultural role and awareness of public design and contribute to enhancing the public's cultural enjoyment rights.

The district received excellent evaluations in all major assessment categories, including design policy ideology and strategy, design development content, and design achievements, through preliminary and final rounds and presentations.

This valuable achievement was made possible by a resident-centered, life-close administration that even the government had to acknowledge.

The Seocho-gu Untact Screening Clinic was planned by reflecting the trend of the non-face-to-face 'Untact' era due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and applied public design techniques for disaster safety to enhance the role of public design in the COVID-19 era.

It applied a walking-through space design for the entire screening process, including reception, epidemiological investigation, and specimen collection, by establishing movement flow plans and spatial configurations that completely block infection transmission routes such as droplets, contact, and airborne infection, and by installing various Untact support equipment.

Through this, it alleviated the hardships of residents who have to wait for long hours and medical staff who have to endure heat and cold while wearing protective suits, and promoted physical and psychological stability by creating separate spaces for the disabled, pregnant women, and the elderly, applying universal design.

Meanwhile, the Seocho-gu Untact Screening Clinic, the first of its kind nationwide, has become a benchmarking target for government agencies, local governments across the country, and even overseas countries such as the United States and France.

In addition, the district operates 25 temporary screening clinics where residents can conveniently get tested nearby, discloses confirmed patient movement routes quickly and transparently, conducts the first nationwide full inspection of overseas entrants, introduces Seoul's first pooled testing method, and was the first to introduce AI fever-checking robots, receiving high praise from domestic and international media such as CNN and Le Monde, gaining attention as a truly 'first-class quarantine city.'

Since winning the grand prize in 2018 for 'Seoripul Wondumak (Tree), Seoripul Igloo, Ondol Flower Seat' responding to climate change, the district once again won the grand prize in 2020 by submitting the 'Seocho-gu Untact Screening Clinic' applying public design for COVID-19 disaster preparedness in the general public project category, demonstrating its role as a leading local government in public design.

Moreover, in 2019, it won the Presidential Award at the '21st Korea Design Awards' hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and has received numerous awards in reputable domestic and international competitions as well as continuous favorable reviews from domestic and foreign media.

A district official said, "We are pleased that through this award, our resident-centered, life-close administration has made residents proud and happy to live in Seocho," adding, "We will do our best to make Seocho a leading district in Seoul through design administration by protecting the safety of the people from COVID-19 through public design."