Seoul City to Strengthen Trust in Public Architectural Design Competitions with New Jury Pool and Advance Disclosure

Improvements Allow Advance Recusal Requests Through Pre-Disclosure of Jury Members
On-Site Inspections Institutionalized for Practical Evaluations Reflecting Site Conditions

The winning design for the Seoul Urban Metal Recovery Center modernization project, released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Seoul Metropolitan Government

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is set to implement institutional reforms aimed at strengthening the fairness and expertise of public architectural design competition evaluations. These reforms include changes to the composition of the jury pool, advance disclosure, and the introduction of on-site inspections.

On June 18, the city announced that it has established the "Operational Guidelines (Draft) for Public Architectural Design Competitions" and will officially begin implementing them starting next month.

The new guidelines introduce an experience-based jury candidate database (S-POOL), moving away from the previous approach where anyone meeting basic qualifications could be appointed as a juror by the operations committee. S-POOL is a database that selects jury candidates based on verifiable achievements such as awards in the public architecture field, academic research, and contributions to professional publications.

The guidelines require that more than 70% of all jurors must be recommended from S-POOL, preventing the repeated appointment of specific individuals and ensuring that jurors with diverse backgrounds and expertise are evenly represented in the evaluation process.

To further strengthen fairness and diversity in jury selection, the city will establish a new Public Architecture Review Subcommittee. This subcommittee will assign priority to candidates after comprehensively considering factors such as alma mater, field of affiliation, gender, and any history of misconduct.

Additionally, the city will make it mandatory for jurors to complete ethics training and submit a pledge of integrity. During on-site briefings and pre-meetings, the city will clearly inform participants of disqualification and recusal criteria for jurors, as well as matters related to the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act. Blind presentations will be fully implemented, with presenters selected by random draw and their identities concealed, while screens and other measures will be used to institutionally guarantee anonymity and objectivity in evaluations.

Previously, during the design competition process for the Seoul Urban Metal Recovery Center modernization project, the city immediately disqualified a company that attempted to contact jury members in advance. Through the unfair conduct reporting system, it was confirmed that one of the five companies shortlisted for the second round had attempted to contact a juror, and the jury unanimously agreed to exclude the company from the evaluation process.

To ensure the stability and credibility of the competition evaluation process, the city will also introduce advance disclosure of the jury list. By making the list of jurors, including alternates, publicly available, participants can request the recusal of certain jurors if necessary, thereby addressing concerns about fairness.

In addition, the city will institutionalize on-site inspections for jurors to ensure that evaluations reflect the actual location and spatial context of public buildings. By conducting evaluations based on a thorough understanding of the site, the city expects to increase the feasibility of implementing winning designs.

To prevent cases where construction costs change significantly after a design is selected or where the feasibility of the proposed plan cannot be guaranteed, the city will require that projected construction costs and design fee calculations be disclosed online when the competition is announced.

Lim Changsoo, Director of Future Space Planning for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, stated, "The establishment of these new operational guidelines will not only bring about substantial improvements to the public architectural design competition system, but will also serve as an important foundation for increasing trust in the competition process. We will continue to refine the system to ensure that fair and transparent design competitions become firmly established."