Seoul Wins Three Awards at America’s SEGD Global Design Awards
06/14/2019
The Seoul City Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design and Public Art Project won three awards at the world’s most prestigious 2019 SEGD Global Design Awards in the United States.
The SEGD Global Design Awards has been operated by the SEGD (Society for Experiential Graphic Design), offering the highest awards in the fields of architecture, space, exhibition, and environmental graphic design. The participants submit their works under seven categories: ▴Digital Experience Content, ▴Exhibition, ▴Interactive Experience, ▴Placemaking and Identity, ▴Public Installation, ▴Strategy, Research, Planning, and ▴Wayfinding.
In January 2019, Seoul city submitted its Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design and its Public Art Project to the SEGD Global Design Awards. In March, passing the individual screening and panel of professional judges, Seoul’s works were finally selected to receive awards.
Out of the 341 works submitted by different countries across the world, Skyline Wayfinding, the Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design of Geumho-dong 4(sa)-ga in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, received the Sylvia Harris Award, which corresponds to the grand prize in the field of public design, and a Merit Award, which is equivalent to an excellence award. The Jahadam Project that was installed on a three-way pedestrian overpass located at Sinyeong-Dong was awarded a Merit Award as well.
Particularly, the Sylvia Harris Award that was given to the Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design in Geumho-dong in Seongdong-gu is a very meaningful award that is awarded only to one work with high social influence and publicity. This was the first time that South Korea won the Sylvia Harris Award.
The Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design in Geumho-dong 4(sa)-ga, Seongdong-gu is characterized by its Skyline Wayfinding, in which addresses are displayed on the top exterior of each house. In the area (Geumho-dong), the old, low-to-the-ground houses of which redevelopment has been delayed are concentrated on the hilly and high grounds. Due to a lack of landmarks or shopping malls, people found it difficult to explain their location in an emergency. In order to oust these problems, Seoul equipped the area with this Crime Prevention (Life Safety) Design.
The Jahadam Project, which received a Merit Award, is a public artwork that is installed on a three-way pedestrian overpass located in the 25-year-old Sinyeong-Dong. The project was pursued as one of the “Seoul as an Art Museum” projects last year. The overpass is frequently used by students of the nearby Segumjung Elementary School and they call it “a cool overpass.” The new material (luminous stones) installed throughout the floor emits a mysterious light at night, producing an atmosphere in which pedestrians feel as though they are walking on a noctilucent street. Also, using an app, visitors can encounter unique public artwork of imaginary animals drawn by 92 students from Segumjung Elementary School through augmented reality on the overpass.
On the other hand, the design for solving social issues by Seoul city was given the grand prize at Design For Asia Award in 2014 with its Life Safety (Crime Prevention) Design and the grand prize and presidential citation at the 3rd Korea Crime Prevention Contest. Additionally, the “design governance,” in which various entities propose ways to solve social problems, became the winner of the main prize in the field of Service Design UX at the iF Design Awards 2018.
Jahadam Project (at the three-way overpass at Sinyeong-dong, Jongno-gu)
Jahadam Stone A work of art expressing the Bukhansan Valley and nearby strata through the installation of luminous stones on the floor of the overpass
○ Jaha Mythology Public artwork in which 92 Segumjung Elementary School students imagined the mythology of the village. The stories in their drawings are offered in the middle of the overpass through the AR against the background of the present.
○ Jaha Sharing An online platform to which one can connect to through QR, where interviews with local celebrities of culture and art scene are uploaded.
