Gyeonggi Province's First 'Human Rights Building' Born in Jidong, Suwon

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-seong] Jidong Administrative Welfare Center, Gyeonggi Province's first human rights building, has been newly completed.

Suwon City announced on the 30th that the Jidong Administrative Welfare Center, which began construction with the aim of incorporating human rights into public buildings, has been completed.

The Jidong Administrative Welfare Center, completed by the city in over four years as its first attempt to embed human rights in public buildings, is scheduled to welcome residents on December 6th.

Previewing Suwon City's first human rights building, the Jidong Administrative Welfare Center, we confirmed the human rights values that Suwon City incorporated into the vessel of public building construction.

◇Envisioning change in the underdeveloped inner city of Jidong

Located in the center of Suwon and adjacent to Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, Jidong is a representative old downtown area of Suwon City.

The existing administrative welfare center was built in November 1989 and has long surpassed 30 years of age. The space is extremely cramped, unable to meet the increasing demands for administrative and welfare services.

For residents who have long made their homes here, the insufficient space often became an obstacle when conducting various community activities and self-governing activities.

Suwon City, which had been discussing the reconstruction of the Jidong Administrative Welfare Center since 2014, selected Jidong in 2017 as the site for its first human rights building construction project, which would serve as a model for incorporating human rights into public buildings.

This selection was made considering the area's characteristics—deteriorated residential environments, a large vulnerable population including elderly and foreign residents, and insufficient social infrastructure—with expectations that the human rights building would serve as a focal point for transforming residents' daily lives.

After four years, the new building was completed. The fact that Jidong Administrative Welfare Center is a 'human rights building' becomes apparent from the external entrance. There are no obstacles in the path from the street sidewalk to the inside of the building.

There are no steps or structures that could cause inconvenience, allowing anyone to easily access the interior.

Beyond the entrance, all spaces are level, making it a 'user-friendly' space for everyone. It is designed so that people using wheelchairs or crutches, elderly people with shortened strides, people carrying heavy items in their hands, and toddlers can all use it safely.

Human rights considerations extend into every corner of the interior facilities. Careful attention has been paid to make it easier for people with disabilities, short stature, and elderly people with bent posture to use the facilities. Signage for the disabled, including braille guide boards, has been installed in more prominent locations.

On the first floor central hall floor, directional signage for each area has been installed so visitors can easily find their destination. On glass walls that provide an open feel to the space, signage using pictograms has been continuously attached at eye level.

This is to prevent situations where people fail to recognize the glass window and collide with it.

Safety-conscious placement of facilities has been implemented throughout each space. In the most visible location in each area, detailed guide boards listing evacuation procedures in case of fire, fire extinguisher usage instructions, and evacuation routes are positioned.

The edges of corridor and other floor surfaces are finished with darker colors in certain sections, making it easy to recognize space structure and movement flow through visual perception.

◇Administrative Welfare Center Embodying Participation, Communication, and Consideration

The Jidong human rights building spans basement level 1 to above ground level 2, with a total floor area of 2,560 square meters. Each floor appropriately arranges administrative office spaces, resident self-governing spaces, and rest areas.

The second floor features spaces that reflect major resident requests. These include a 200-seat large conference room capable of hosting large-scale events, the Motgol Sarang-deul multipurpose room for small meetings, the Motgol Kitchen community kitchen, the resident self-governance committee office, and the district headquarters.

To incorporate human rights into a public building, over three years of preparation were necessary from 2017, and approximately one year elapsed from construction start to completion.

Resident opinions were concretized through surveys and face-to-face interviews. As a result, requests were reflected including large-scale spaces for major events such as kimchi-making, resident convenience facilities such as kitchens and rest areas, and improved accessibility to civil affairs offices, the district chief's office, and consultation rooms.

Before the design competition, resident briefing sessions and public hearings were held, with active resident participation, and a human rights impact assessment committee composed of human rights and architecture experts participated multiple times to carefully embed human rights considerations.

To achieve this, collaboration among various departments including Suwon City's human rights division, the urban design team, facilities engineering division, Paldal-gu administration support division, and Jidong district was essential.

The Jidong Administrative Welfare Center was born as Gyeonggi Province's first public building that embodies human rights as its top priority through these collective efforts.