For the past fifty years, apartments have become the inevitable standard of housing types while over 9 million apartments have been produced through industrialization and urbanization of Korea. The society is now challenged to change its paradigm in housing provision to actualize symbiotic community among people and with eco system, adaptable as both a welfare and green infra space. In this context, currently, an innovative building model with shared spare space as a strategic idea to cope with various social problems and future ecological risks was suggested. The purpose of this research is to develop a building innovation model powerful enough to efficiently and effectively promote symbiotic community. An eclectic methodological approach was employed, using interview, questionnaire survey, web survey, professional group workshops, and multidisciplinary open discussion meetings. As results, the suggested model with shared community space as its critical concept was well accepted by all stake-holders. The feasibility and value of the building innovation model was confirmed as an intervention to promote symbiotic community of Korea in an efficient way. The results have great implication for building improvement of other industrial countries with fast mass housing to cope with world energy issues and social exclusion issues. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.