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Busan Metro Busan Station Nursing Room and Sasang-gu Community Child Center Renovated Through the “HOPE with HUG Project”

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Busan Metropolitan City announced that it has completed the renovation of the Busan Metro Busan Station nursing room and the Sasang-gu Community Child Center this year through the “HOPE with HUG Project.”

The HOPE with HUG Project is being implemented based on a tripartite agreement signed in 2016 by Busan Metropolitan City, the Busan International Architecture Festival Organizing Committee (Executive Director: Lee Seong-ho), and the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG; Acting President: Yoon Myeong-gyu). The project aims to improve small-scale, aging public facilities for socially vulnerable groups.

Completion ceremonies will be held at 2:00 p.m. today (the 15th) in the station operations and safety office inside Busan Metro Busan Station, and at 10:00 a.m. on December 17 at the Sasang-gu Community Child Center. The December 17 ceremony will be attended by representatives from HUG, project sponsors including Dongwon Development Co., Ltd., the head of Sasang-gu District, and local residents to celebrate the completion of the renovation together.

For this year’s project, HUG contributed KRW 150 million to the Busan International Architecture Festival and jointly promoted the initiative.

Busan Metro Busan Station Nursing Room
Through this project, the approximately 7-square-meter nursing room has been transformed into a safe and convenient space for infants and their caregivers. Busan Metropolitan City expanded essential convenience facilities such as diaper-changing tables and bottle sterilizers and improved the spatial layout to create a user-centered nursing environment. The facility had long been identified as needing improvement due to insufficient amenities and inadequate privacy protection.

The project was carried out with sponsorship from HUG, a pro bono design contribution by Kim Hee-won, CEO of Gamsung Plan Co., Ltd., and on-site support from Busan Transportation Corporation. CEO Kim Hee-won is known for creative and innovative design work and has won all three of the world’s major design awards.

This renovation of a nursing room within an urban railway facility marks the first pilot case of improving everyday convenience facilities closely tied to daily life, in addition to community public facilities such as senior centers, study rooms, and shared kitchens. Busan Metropolitan City plans to review ways to gradually expand the scope of the project by considering facility conditions and user demand.

Sasang-gu Community Child Center
The interior and exterior environments of the community child center were fully renovated and reorganized into a multifunctional space for learning and relaxation shared by children and teachers.

In the front yard, concrete paving was carried out to establish a proper drainage system, and level differences were removed to enhance safety for children’s activities. Stairs leading to the underground septic tank were also improved, addressing issues related to odors and sanitation.

Indoors, the layout of classrooms and common areas was redesigned to resolve the previously dark atmosphere and inefficient circulation. In addition, underfloor heating was installed to create a warm and comfortable environment.

Construction costs for this project were sponsored by HUG and Dongwon Development Co., Ltd. (Chairman: Jang Bok-man), while Sim Eun-jung, CEO of Sims Architecture Office, contributed her design expertise on a pro bono basis.

The community child center, located on the first basement level of the Sasang-gu Comprehensive Social Welfare Center completed in 1993, has been in operation for over 20 years since opening in 2004 without major renovation. Ongoing issues included sanitation problems such as odors and insects during the summer due to the underground septic tank near the entrance, safety accidents caused by level differences in the yard, and water pooling during heavy rainfall, all of which led to continuous calls for improvements in safety and hygiene.

Bae Seong-taek, Director of the Housing & Architecture Bureau of Busan Metropolitan City, stated, “We hope this project will help enhance convenience for citizens, and we will continue to pay close attention to improving various everyday infrastructure facilities so that they are safe and pleasant spaces.” He added, “Busan Metropolitan City will continue to make every effort to improve spatial environments where citizens can experience tangible changes in their daily lives.”