"Please vote directly on which Presidential Sejong Office design proposal should be first place."
The Multifunctional Administrative City Construction Agency announced on the 16th that it will conduct a public voting poll on the 5 works that advanced to the second round of judging in the design competition for the construction of the Presidential Sejong Office.
From 9 AM on April 17 to 5 PM on April 23, any adult with Korean citizenship can participate through mobile and the dedicated voting website after identity verification.
The public voting on the Presidential Sejong Office design proposals is being conducted separately from expert evaluation to gauge public preferences and raise interest in the Sejong Office design proposals.
This design competition is receiving intense attention from the domestic architecture community, as it involves constructing a core national facility symbolizing the completion of Sejong as the administrative capital. Starting with the announcement on January 16 and closing submissions on April 8, a total of 17 works from leading domestic design firms were submitted in fierce competition.
The Agency formed a judging committee of authoritative experts in architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture, completed the first round of judging on April 13, and selected 5 works to advance to the second round of main judging.
The judging committee evaluated the advancing works highly for presenting site plans that consider and respond to terrain and surrounding context, planning facade designs that reinterpret traditional architectural aesthetics with modern materials, and arranging spaces to actively communicate with citizens while enhancing work efficiency.
The evaluation noted that the proposals present diverse architectural and urban solutions—from interpretations of the office as a weighty space symbolizing national dignity befitting the center of Korea and symbolic space of Sejong City, to approaches that boldly reduce symbolism and flexibly resolve the space as a practical administrative facility.
Citizens participating in the vote are advised that it would help their selection to examine the works with attention to symbolism as an office, harmony with the surrounding natural environment and urban context, communication with citizens, and implementation of Korean architectural aesthetics.
The 5 works, in order of submission, are: △Commonscape △National Symbolic Space Realized through Pavilions and Courtyards, Landscape of Wisdom △The Representation of Open Power △Governance as Order: Spatial Attitude of Institution △Landscape United by the People's Will, Unified View of People's Will (民意一景). The architectural concepts and images of the works can be viewed on the voting website.
After all judging is completed, various prizes will be awarded through a lottery among citizens who participated in voting, with winners announced on the website in early May. The work receiving the most votes will be awarded a "Public Sympathy Special Award" and prize money of 10 million won, separate from the awards for winning and placed works.
The final winning work is scheduled to be selected through the second round of judging on April 24.
Agency Director Kang Ju-yeop stated, "We aim to raise public interest in the Presidential Sejong Office and broadly reflect diverse opinions on design proposals that resonate with the public," adding, "We will work hard to construct a Presidential Sejong Office that matches our national dignity and meets the public's pride and expectations."
