Pukyong National University

Pukyong students won the grand prize in the ‘Modern Urban Architecture Design Contest’!

- To a regeneration design of urban using old Ilshin Gwanju textile Square

△ Commemorative photos of the grand prize winners

Students at Pukyong National University (President Jang Young-Soo) won the grand prize (awarded by the Administrator of Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea) at the ‘Modern Urban Architecture Design Competition’ hosted by the Society of Korean Modern Architecture & Urbanism.

A student team (Advisory Prof. Oh Jang-Hwan) composed of Jang Young-Joon (5th grade), Lee Tae-Ryong (4th), and Jo Myeong-Hoon (4th) from the Department of Architecture at Pukyong National University participated in the competition with the theme of 'New Urban Regeneration of the Old Jeonnam & Ilshin Textile Industry Factory Site in Gwangju', and received the grand prize of 5 million won for their work called 'From the factory that made thread to the plaza that made culture= Ilshin Textile Square'.

The student team from Pukyong National University received the most excellent evaluation among participating teams for their urban regeneration architectural design project through the preservation and utilization of the Ilshin Spinning Mill Square in the contest in which 150 teams of public and university students from all over the country participated.

Their design preserves the historical value of the Ilshin Textile Square in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, which was the mecca for the textile industry in Korea, and by reinterpreting it while at the same time transforming it into a complex cultural space for citizens in the city center.

Their suggested architectural design includes using the existing steam power plant in the factory as a concert and event hall, using the boiler room as a resting place for artists, using the raw material warehouse as a Larchiveum (combined of Library+Archive+Museum), and using the space of the thread factory as an art platform and workshop facility.

In order to organically connect the 3,306㎡ factory site and to create a unified look, the design that students made showed how to design and apply a new tunnel to link the buildings and use it as a space to display the machines from the existing factory.

The judges commented, "Their work is impressive in its diversity and creative proposals combined with the existing industrial heritage, and it is the most complete among the submitted works because they described their plans in detail so that anyone can imagine that the designs are feasible."

Jang Young-Joon, a student participant from Pukyong National University said, "Rather than preserving historical buildings as they are, it seems to have brought good results to our team by reinterpreting their meaning and applying them as a way to develop the location into a local cultural landmark." <Pukyong Today>

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