HDC Hyundai Development has created a student-participatory eco-friendly learning space called the "Symphony Classroom Forest" at Seoul Shinmok Elementary School in Yangcheon District, Seoul.
The company said on the 28th that it held an opening ceremony for the Symphony Classroom Forest at the school. Attendees included Song Chung-geun, head of HDC Hyundai Development's urban redevelopment project team; Chung Kwang-jae, director of the team's Seoul business office; Lee Yeon-seung, principal of Seoul Shinmok Elementary School; and Chang Sung-gye, a division head at Good Neighbors.
The Symphony Classroom Forest is a corporate social responsibility program under which HDC Hyundai Development places plants in classrooms or underused spaces within schools so that students can encounter nature in their daily routines. Working with Good Neighbors, the company builds eco-friendly learning spaces and links them to environmental education, with a focus on raising environmental awareness among younger generations.
The space at Seoul Shinmok Elementary School was likewise designed to let students experience nature during school life and learn why environmental protection matters. Rather than stopping at building the space, the program also runs a "Children's Forest Guardians" group in which students take part directly in maintenance and environmental activities.
An HDC Hyundai Development official said the project matters because the company does not simply build and hand over a space on its own terms but creates the space together with the children who want it. "We hope the classroom forest at Seoul Shinmok Elementary School becomes a place where children can be close to nature and learn the value of the environment," the official said.
