On the 31st of May, the results of the ‘Buncheon Branch School in Bonghwa-gun ‒ Competition for the Planning and Design Proposal of a Regional Eco-Friendly Accommodation Facility’ (hereinafter Buncheon Branch School Proposal Competition) hosted and supervised by Bonghwa County, Gyeongsangbuk-do were announced. A total of five winning teams were unveiled, including the winning project, ‘Uhjjuhdah Haruu’, by architects office SAAI+ (principal, Park Inyoung). The competition is different from existing design competitions in that it stands for a ‘planning and design proposal competition’. In the provinces, unlike in the metropolitan area, the first project of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), which adopted an open call system that integrated operational planning and architectural design, has been put to the test. From the planning of the design competition to the competition guidelines, the selection of winning proposals, and future implementation stages, we surveyed during the project the themes and suggested tasks posed by this design competition.
The Challenges to the ‘Planning and Design Proposal Competition’
The Buncheon Branch School Proposal Competition was conducted as part of the ‘regional-specific eco-friendly accommodation facility creation project’ overseen by the MCST and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). The MCST and KTO recruited local governments to participate in the project in 2021 and selected two sites ‒ Bonghwa- gun in Gyeongsangbuk-do and Haenam- gun in Jeollanam-do ‒ as forming the pilot project. However, what is a ‘regional eco- friendly accommodation facility’, and what is the background to the MCST in carrying out the project? According to the MCST’s project plan (2021), it was intended as an opportunity to attract tourists by drawing on local resources in tourism, and to create local customised accommodation facilities using existing idle facilities to increase the vitality of the region. This addresses a situation in which the tourism industry in small and medium-sized cities in Korea is stagnanting. However, there is one distinctive feature in this plan: stipulating ‘the space planning and development team and the architectural design team must set a concept and design direction together’ when setting out plans for the facility. These were made manifest in the actual project as a ‘planning and design proposal competition’. The design guidelines for the Buncheon Branch School Proposal Competition require architectural design and operational planning that guarantees feasibility. It is recommended that this is applied together with a space planner who can review economic feasibility (profitability) in terms of eligibility, and three out of four tasks required in the design guidelines were related to the operation. It included tasks that are difficult to find in existing design competitions: setting specific targets and establishing spatial and operational strategies based on ESG concepts; economic and profitability analysis; differentiated regional identity building strategy; and integrated brand design proposal including signage to be used in detail for accommodation facilities. It is worth noting that this is the first case where a open call in the form of integrating operational planning and architectural design has been applied to the MCST’s project.
The MCST attempted a new kind of competition, breaking away from the practice of separately conducting operator selection and the design competition in the general facility creation project, which lies with concerns for and reflections on existing projects. This is because there have been cases of failures at the operation stage, even if a large budget was invested in revitalising the region or enhancing the enjoyment of culture. Harmful consequences have been repeated, such as wasting unnecessary budget on remodelling work due to the difference between the space created through the public offering and its actual use or stopping the operation after public support was cut off. Accordingly, the MCST and KTO has chosen a change to the approach to the competition as a strategy for ensuring the sustainability of spatial operation. To ensure that the operation and design of the actual space are coherent and organically linked, they worked with the competition management team composed of experts in operation planning and architectural design to focus on drawing the project plan correctly. The main keywords that suggest the direction of the competition, such as long stay accommodation, eco-friendly, remodelling of idle facility, region-specific content, were also conceptualised during this planning process. For example, Shin Hosoub (principal, Shin Architects), who was in charge of consultation on the overall design of the competition, noted that ‘Utilising a closed school area or operating methods that draw on local tourism and human resources by networking can also be considered environmentally friendly. I mentioned in the guidelines that it is not a requirement to meet specific performance criteria but a conceptual expression to consider an integrated and organic link with the region.’ Now, let’s take a look at the main project content in the planning and design proposal competition created through consultations with various experts and what issues emerged as crucial in this competition, based on the case of the winning proposal.
Buncheon Branch School
Buncheon Branch School was a branch school for Socheon Elementary School located in Socheon-myeon, Bonghwa-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and closed in 2021. The purpose of its proposal competition was to remodel the abandoned facility, the Buncheon Branch School, into a lodging accommodation with a characterful concept and to use it as a base for temporary stays in connection with local features such as the nearby Buncheon Station and Santa Village. A total of 26 teams applied to participate, which lasted for about two months, with ten submitted entries and five winning works, including ‘Uhjjuhdah Haruu’, which were selected after screening. Shin selected three issues as essential points to consider at the screening phase when planning the competition. The first was an operation plan to achieve a balance between making the Buncheon Branch School an attractive accommodation facility and creating a base connected with the surrounding tourism infrastructure such as Santa Village; the second is the interpretation of the social, economic, and cultural ripple effect on the region of staying in Buncheon, away from the centre of Bonghwa-gun; and the third was an architectural interpretation of the spatiality of the closed school. In particular, Shin mentioned that the minimum remodelling required to reduce the maintenance cost of the building and the appropriate allocation of the various programme spaces, as detailed in the guidelines, were essential topics.
The winning proposal first identified the characteristics of the Buncheon area and the potential of the tourism infrastructure, set specific targets, and then presented directions for spatial planning based on the operation plan. Although the Buncheon area may feel like a remote area in terms of accessibility, they came to the conclusion that it is a place where one can enjoy leisure and tranquillity in nature as it is connected by local trains to the East Sea and a national road with an old-fashioned sentiment. The proposal established the aim to attract various types of tourists, such as trekkers, campers, bikers, and workcationers, in connection with the Santa Village near Buncheon Station and the Nakdonggang River trekking section 2 area. Then, they formed an accommodation facility that could be ‘workcation in nature’ under the brand ‘Uhjjuhdah Haruu’ and carried over the spatial and brand design according to the operating programme. The architectural plan in the winning proposal begins with minimal remodelling of the existing branch school building while setting it as the centre of the space. Some trees around the site were removed to secure openness, and a new building that retained the image of the existing school as once was and an annexe in the form of a small segmented mass to fit the programme. The two-story main building and the new building used the first floor for shared facilities such as lounges, concierge, cafés, and restaurants, and the second floor was used for lodging. Also, A House, which embodies the image of Santa Village, was added to the end of the main building to respond to local cultural content. The playground was converted into a grass plaza for a camp site. Still, the structure and functions of the existing facilities were maximised, such as using tap water as a footbath or changing the buildings and fences used as teachers’ residences to camping support facilities such as faucets and separate garbage collection points. The three programme rooms in the annexe are also designed for detailed programmes such as workshops, movie screenings, tea ceremonies, yoga, and celebrity lectures with different finishing materials and furniture. According to its annual operation plan, it suggests programmes linked to local festivals, such as the Bonghwa Sweetfish Festival, Bonghwa Pine Mushroom Festival, and Santa Village Festival, as well as those related to nature such as biking, hiking, and trekking. In addition, it presented the results of the economic review, such as predicting demand and establishing a sales plan considering the facility use rate and planning the BI design from the symbol of ‘Uhjjuhdah Haruu’ to amenity and tour stamps. It showed that their plans had concrete realities in mind. The judging panel mentioned that the winning proposal actively maintains the identity of the closed school building. In contrast, additional structures such as the new building and annexe were arranged to surround the existing playground space, increasing the nature and value of the entire site. And it was a strategy in which the operational value of the facility was integrated with the area to promote sustainability and acceptability of value growth. Judging from the evaluation criteria predicted at the planning stage of the competition, it was the plan that was most directly associated with how the facility would be used when it was built. Moreover, the critical factor here was that it had a distinctive brand of 'Uhjjuhdah One Day' while proposing contact points that could be connected to regional revitalisation through a detailed operation plan. The spatial arrangement and remodelling direction that identified the characteristics of the existing school building and made use of its advantages also were persuasive.
Limitations and Tasks
The Buncheon Branch School Proposal Competition introduced an unfamiliar public competition method that had no precedent in the region. As a result, it took considerable time to persuade and cooperate with the local government, the project’s main body. The MCST announced that it plans to apply the same public contest method to all future project sites, such as Namwon-si in Jeollabuk-do and Hadong- gun in Gyeongsangnam-do, by accumulating know-how, starting with Bonghwa and Haenam, which are the target areas of the pilot project. However, one regrettable part of the proposal competition is that bidding for operators will be held separately after the planning and design contest. An official from the competition said they envisioned a competition to recruit an operator to operate the existing facility together with a designer at the planning stage. However, it was impossible to completely integrate the two due to institutional limitations, as in the case of Nodeul Island (covered in SPACE No. 627). The MCST and KTO also announced that they would be reviewing measures such as forming an advisory group or steering committee to manage and supervise the implementation of the existing operation plan after the commissioned operator is nominated through bidding. Park Inyoung of the architects office SAAI+, the competition’s winner, expressed regret that the bidding for the operator was to be performed separately, but explained, ‘For an architect to design a space that works properly as a general planner, this integrated design competition method should be expanded.
A public competition in the form of setting up an operational plan together, such as setting a target and proposing a rate of return, is already being conducted in Korea Land and Housing Corporation’s social housing.’ He also added that as the planning field is gradually emerging to greater prominence in architecture, architects should improve their ability to design by linking hardware and software. Furthermore, to suggest the practical use of various idle facilities that will occur in the future in the era of population decline, institutional and administrative support for the diversification and evolution of design competitions seems more urgent. In that sense, this competition can be evaluated as a ‘meaningful step’ towards establishing a system to produce better public architecture. (written by Bang Yukyung)
