CNU (President: Kang Jung Chaee) was selected as one of the local research-oriented University and will lead a future technology development project with a grant of 51 billion won, supported over the nine years by the government, local autonomous body, and the university. On October 6, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced that CNU's "Bio Housing Research Group (Director: Prof. Song Jin-kyu, Dept. of Architecture, College of Engineering) was designated as the government-supporting research group for the local research-oriented university project. Bio Housing Research Group will develop creative bio housing models without any worries over the new house syndrome by uniting advanced construction technology and environmentally friendly building materials such as timber or yellow soil. The Department of Architecture will take a leading role in the government-supporting project and other departments including medical science, forestry product & technology, horticulture, and landscape architecture will participate. As collaborating partners, Dongshin University (Dept. of Architecture) and Mokpo National University (Dept. of Architecture, Dept. of Civil Engineering, and Dept. of Landscape) will work together. It is envisaged that the project would focus on the building of eco-friendly accommodation for people to solve the new house syndrome, emerged as a social problem recently. Through the development of eco-friendly housing standards and functional building materials, the project will quicken up the related businesses such as eco-tourism business. The project is going to be based around eco-tourism then the accommodation should also respect the environment. The eco-building industry today offers very real alternatives to standard building construction methods. There are many options for the construction of bio-friendly homes and buildings. By firstly creating accommodation space into the design of the building, the Research Group will develop Gwangju City
s construction model as the culture-oriented city. Tourism and leisure industry of Gwangju City will be developed according to the project implementation. Bio Housing Research Group aims to develop functional building materials manufactured from regional natural resources such as yellow soil or elvan, to export the developed materials to other countries, to develop new technology regarding to the conservation and production of building timber, and to draw out eco-friendly housing standards and tourism maps. Based on the research results, the Research Group will assist local business entities in manufacturing and marketing eco-friendly materials. These will surely result in activation of tourism industry through the constructions of recreational facilities, silver town, and tourist city with a specific theme. Bio housing pursues health-oriented, eco-friendly, durability, and environment-friendly future housing models. When this technology is commercialized, the local community can possess its unique technology brand and develop its eco-tourism industry. Director Song Jin-kyu of Bio Housing Research Group said, "I will contribute to complete the project successfully and bolster CNU's standing as research-centered university. I will also make effort to do much toward the industrial development of Gwangju and Jeonnam region. I am grateful to the lawmakers from this region, Rep. Yom Dong-yon, Rep. Choi In-ki, and Rep. Kang Ki-jung. They did much to increase government supports for the local research-centered university development project. I also thank Mayor Park Gwang-tae of Gwangju City and Governor Park Joon-young of the Jeonnam Province for their help."