A view of Omok Park in Yangcheon-gu southwestern Seoul after renovation (Provided by KCDF)

The Public Design Festival 2024 will kick off on Friday, centered in Seoul and Daejeon, focusing on how the design quality of public spaces in South Korea can evolve to better serve its citizens. The festival will foster discussions with experts and highlight examples from across the country.

The third edition of the design festival, “Public Design for Embracement” held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will expand in scale from last year including 185 public spaces, the largest number from the previous two editions.

The grand award at 2024 Korea Public Design Awards is elevated this year as a presidential prize from prime minister' award. This year’s grand award will go to Omok Park in Yangcheon-gu southwestern Seoul, which was turned into a public lounge for citizens featuring a corridor design, accompanying gardens. The 35-year-old park’s renovation project was led by architect Park Seung-jin, founder of design studio loci.

A view of Omok Park in Yangcheon-gu southwestern Seoul after renovation (Provided by KCDF)

The 10-day festival will start with an opening ceremony on Friday at cociety, a public space for cultural events, in Seongdong-gu, Seoul and will accompany a forum titled “Embracement: Public Design Through Local Communities” on Oct. 30, inviting experts, architects and designers in Daejeon.

The forum will evolve around three topics “Conditions for Building a Resilient City,” “Designing for an Era of Shrinking Populations” and “Local Co-Existence, Sustainable Future.” The speakers include Architect and Interior Designer Patrick Raymond, co-founder of atelier oi; Choi Jung-woo, professor of department of architecture at University of Ulsan; Ezio Manzini, president of DESIS Network and honorary professor at the Plitecnico di Milano; and Choi Sung-ho, president of Korean Society of Public Design.

“Korea is rapidly becoming a super-aged society, while experiencing one of the lowest birth rates in the world. The 2024 Public Design Forum recognizes these contemporary challenges and is dedicated to seeking paths toward a sustainable future,” said Chang Dong-kwang, president of the Korea Craft and Design Foundation, the organizer of the festival.

The awarded public design spaces will be brought together at the exhibition held at cociety from Friday to Sunday.