Park1538 Gwangyang wins Platinum A' Design Award

Park1538 Gwangyang by Unsangdong Architects and Posco A&C won Platinum in the A' Design Award’s Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. The recognition spotlights the Gwangyang cultural facility’s reuse of industrial steel heritage as a civic space and points to growing interest in adaptive reuse projects.

Why it matters: - Park1538 Gwangyang shows how an industrial site tied to steelmaking can be reworked into a public cultural destination. - The Platinum A' Design Award puts adaptive reuse, structural experimentation, and public-facing design in the spotlight for the architecture industry. - The project offers a reference point for turning production-oriented land into civic space that connects industry, landscape, and community.

What happened: - The A' Design Award named Park1538 Gwangyang by Unsangdong Architects and Posco A&C a Platinum winner in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. - The award announcement was made August 26, 2026, from Como, Italy. - The project is located in Gwangyang, a city shaped by steel production. - Interested parties can learn more on the award page.

The details: - Park1538 Gwangyang reinterprets industrial identity as cultural value and introduces visitors to the material, process, and history of steelmaking. - A cantilevered exhibition hall creates an open plaza below. - Ramps and vertical ribs organize movement through layered interior and exterior spaces. - Curved surfaces reference the meaning of Gwangyang, which translates as sunlight, and are designed to reflect and refract light through the day. - The landscape reshapes flat industrial ground into planted mounds. - Former machinery is kept as sculptural artifacts within the site. - The project uses parametric coordination between structure and envelope to achieve long spans while maintaining architectural clarity. - The design team included lead architects Yoongyoo Jang, Changhoon Shin, Mijung Kim, and Dongkeun Kim. - The broader architectural team included Minkyun Kim, Eunsol Ko, Siyoung Lee, Nahee Kwon, Moonhwan Kim, Hee Cho, Seongmook Lim, Seho Ahn, Kyungmo Kim, and Bosung Park.

Between the lines: - The award reflects a larger architectural shift toward reuse of industrial sites for culture, public access, and social engagement. - The project frames steel not as a rigid material alone, but as a spatial and formal system with more flexibility than its reputation suggests. - The recognition also signals growing interest in integrated design, where structure, facade, circulation, and landscape work as one system.

What's next: - The Platinum recognition may encourage Unsangdong Architects and Posco A&C to continue work in adaptive reuse and material innovation. - The project could serve as a model for future industrial-heritage transformations in South Korea and beyond. - A' Design Award says the recognition is meant to highlight projects that advance society through good design.