SPACE February 2026 (No. 699)
A Smart Village Experimenting with the Role of Architecture in the Smart Era
Busan EDC Smart Village (hereinafter Smart Village) is a living laboratory conceived under the concept of ‘a city that lives with technology’. While technology rapidly advances everyday life, its speed often disregards human rhythms. Rather than placing technology at the forefront, we repositioned it as the background to life and restored the place of human beings at the centre. The Smart Village is an architectural proposal that seeks this point of balance.
The complex is organised around a single pedestrian axis, the ‘Smart Community Corridor’. More than a simple circulation system, it constitutes a social cross-section where residents’ lives intersect, while pavements for walking and the gaze of passersby occupy the centre. Housing is arranged along the perimeter in detached types and in party-wall-connected types, forming block configurations that share open courtyards. In the detached houses, south-facing daylighting, private yards, and flexible furniture propose ways of ‘living broadly within small spaces’. In the party-wall housing, which explores the boundaries and rhythms of shared living, the party wall functions both as a device for energy efficiency and as a loose connection between dwellings.
Within the Smart Village, 3,000 sensors collect data on temperature, electricity use, and patte...
Unsangdong Architects (Jang Yoongyoo, Shin Changh
Kim Bongkyun, Oh Taekjoon, Kim Sol, Yang Wonjoon,
13, Smart 3-gil, Gangseo-gu, Busan, Korea
single houses, neighbourhood living facilities
7,202m²
2,247.23m²
3,219.99m²
single houses – 2F / community facilities &#
33
single houses – 10.14m community facilities
31.2%
32%
single houses – RC, light gauge steel / com
single houses – clay brick, stone, Low-E gl
CS Structural Engineering Inc.
HIMEC Ltd.
Shindonagh Constructon Co., Ltd.
Dec. 2019 – Jan. 2021
July 2020 – Dec. 2021
K-water
Studio HYMH