Gwangmyeong City's 'Life Garden' "Sohadamsuup" Wins 23rd Korea Color Awards BLUE(Value) Prize

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Yu Je-sung] Gwangmyeong City's life garden 'Sohadamsuup' has been selected as the recipient of the 'BLUE(Value)' prize at the 23rd Korea Color Awards.

'Sohadamsuup,' a multi-sensory indoor garden designed to promote cognitive health in the elderly, received the Award of Excellence from the Korea Institute of Public Design at the Korea Land Expo in September, and has once again been recognized for the excellence of its spatial design.

The Korea Color Awards, hosted by the Korea Society of Color Studies, is Korea's leading color design competition that selects individuals, companies, and organizations that creatively implement the meaning and value of color in spatial environments, industrial design, and emotion-oriented communication, going beyond simply achieving 'beautiful colors.'

The city received high praise for expanding the 'Sohadamsuup' garden beyond simply expressing the colors of gardens and nature to serve as a therapeutic medium that stimulates the senses and memory.

In particular, the project reinterpreted various natural colors in artificial pigments and implemented them on walls, and harmoniously arranged natural elements such as trees and leaves to heighten the effect of awakening the senses of the elderly.

Rather than simple wall painting, the walls were completed as artistic works through collaboration with an artist, creating an ambiance where the entire space feels like a single garden.

In this space where color and art harmonize, the elderly can revive past memories and emotions and, through the medium of color, experience a new cognitive recovery experience in which sensation and emotion naturally connect, providing emotional stability and healing.

Additionally, the life garden was designed to create a chain reaction of multi-sensory stimuli from nature, such as the sound of rain, the smell of soil, and the texture of plants, thereby maximizing the cognitive recovery effect.

Furthermore, with support from Noru Paint's corporate social contribution initiative, eco-friendly technology-based paint was used, incorporating social and environmental values in both color implementation and material selection.

Mayor Park Seung-won of Gwangmyeong stated, "This award is the result of high recognition in the design field of Gwangmyeong City's spatial welfare-centered urban policies," and added, "Going forward, we will actively expand the application of design incorporating the public value and healing of spaces across public buildings and welfare facilities."

Meanwhile, the 23rd Korea Color Awards ceremony will be held on the 8th at 2 p.m. at Hall A of Moiseau Gallery at Design House in Seoul. An exhibition of award-winning works will be held from the 7th to the 8th at the same venue, where the design of Sohadamsuup can be viewed firsthand.