Concorso internazionale di progettazione “New Gwanghwamun square”. Menzione d'onore. Progettazione della nuova piazza di Gwanghwamun a Seoul.

The main aim of the project was to augment the urban space dedicated to citizens and their free use, turning the existing areas into only pedestrian ones. The two side areas of the new Co-Square welcomes squares and green parks, served by vehicular streets. The underground square space is drawn by the combination of concrete elements, housing different functions able to attract both residents and tourists. This is conceived as a highly flexible space, where the configuration of a lot of areas is left to the free use of visitors. The main provided activities have a strong communal aim, with the intent to offer public areas devoted to the socialization and the sharing of experiences among people, combining resting spaces to multi-activities zones. The new square aims to become not only an urban landmark, a profoundly symbolic space able to represent social and urban values, but an active place able to respond to the ever-changing people needs. The project moved from the design of the emptiness as a resource, shaping the void in order to be filled by users not only physically, but also by their ideas and ethical values. This will empower the relationship between the public place and the people, that will be able to shape the space to fulfill their needs. The Co-Square aims to become the spatial representation of the entire community proposing a new kind of urban place of everyone and for everyone, where all the people are defined by the Square, and that define the Square themselves.