MEMORIAL PARK, CENTER FOR TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION

SOUTH KOREA

2020

In this Valley between the breathtaking Sikjang mountains on the North and Mangdeok mountains on the South with Konryeong stream flowing through, lies a 70-year-old wound and tragedy hidden under the surface. The civil victims of the Korean war and their surviving families. The intention of this proposal is to unseal this buried silence and commemorate all those lives lost. A place for the extended families of those who have perished to gather, grieve, pray for the souls of their loved ones to find peace and reconciliation. A Park and Center to raise historical consciousness, to educate the general public and finally a place to remember, forget and forgive.

MASTER PLAN:

CONCEPT

The concept here is an Integrated response to the built environment by blurring the distinction between architecture, art, ecology, landscape architecture, engineering and planning. The Landscape and Building are intertwined and part of one another and the larger environment within the valley, Konryeong stream and its surrounding mountains. Memorial grounds (excavation sites), Park, Building, pedestrian paths and amenities all come together as one to create a harmonized whole.

TRAFFIC AND CIRCULATION

The physical nature of the site, narrow and long and partially divided by the new 15M wide Konryong Street, lends itself to allocating the parking to the Southwest boundary of the site and circulating the visitors who arrive by buses and automobile via a pedestrian bridge over the street to the Center/ Park. A designated driveway will allow drop-offs to the entrance of the center. A service ramp from the driveway provides access to utilities and mechanical/ electrical systems below grade as well as deliveries and maintenance services and loading area. There will be a secondary vehicular access from the Konryong Street to the Eastern part of the site with parking.

The visitors arriving by foot from the surrounding neighborhoods will take a generous sidewalk along the driveway and a slanted wall that encloses the memorial grounds from traffic view.

In order to facilitate the circulation to the entry area the Konryeong stream at the West end of the site will be in a concrete culvert underground.

There will be a total of five appropriately designed pedestrian bridges crossing the stream throughout the park as well as one vehicular bridge at the East end of the site.

SITE PLANNING AND SCENERY

Gateway

The tower of partially suspended pedestrian bridge at the parking area will bear the name of the Park and Center which acts as a getaway to the site. South side of the bridge will have planting bed for landscaping to provide shade and a pleasant, safe walk to the Center.

The main arrival to the Center is from the Western part of the site which brings the visitors to an open arrival court. At arrival the visitors will come to realization that architecture and landscape are fully integrated and from here one can either visit the Building first or continue the outdoor journey through multiple park events listed on the Site Plan.

The Memorial Ground at Western end consists of the excavation areas all marked and memorialized as granite slabs cut into the landscape in skewed angles, conceptually representing a natural crystal formation by immense soil pressure from being underground.

The granite slabs are backed by concrete retaining walls allowing landscaping to be integrated into this Memorial system. Along each memorial wall lies a shallow reflecting pool. The memorial walls in combination will have approximately 5000 small holes, each representing a victim of the civil war. The granite walls (Slabs) will be hung to concrete retaining walls with a small cavity in between. The idea is to run high pressure misting system with series of nozzles in the cavity between the two to create mists of fog coming out of the holes in special or annual occasions representing breath of the those who have been perished. The mist will come out to touch the visitor and quickly disappear like a whisper. The reflecting pools will reflect and circulate the water for the system. The Konryeong stream will be the source of water stored and kept on site.

The memorial ground will further be landscaped with planted shallow gentle berms providing undulation in landscape as well as privacy to memorial ground visitors. Memorial grounds further East at different locations in the park are all treated similarly but varying in size and landscape setting. The common theme here is to integrate into landscape and provide privacy from rest of the park visitors at the same time. The intention here is to allow for solace and peace, being part of the park and secluded at the same time. Some excavation sites at higher elevations will not be accessible by pedestrian paths but marked with crystal shaped black granite as if they jut out of the mountain, visible from most areas in the park.

Boardwalk

A boardwalk is designed on North side of the stream for relaxation activities such as resting and taking in the sun or watching the tranquil stream water going by. Two small bridges cross over the stream to the boardwalk to create a continuous pedestrian loop to and from this area.

Resting places and viewing platforms

Resting areas and viewing platforms are designed at the specific points with dramatic views of the park and surrounding mountains and observe sunset.

Outdoor Bathrooms and info centers

There are two outdoor bathrooms designed. One conveniently in the middle and one at the East end of the park combined with info center. Both facilities are half buried into the landscape with green roofs in harmony with nature and discrete in the park but well-marked along the pedestrian paths.

Meadow/Sport Field

In the relatively level area at East end of the park, an open meadow is designed for sport activities and large gatherings, concerts in the park, etc.

MEMORIAL HALL:

CONCEPT:

Memorial Hall building is generated by the landscape in which the excavation sites of the victims’ remains have been found. The idea here is to allow the landscape to form the architecture and architecture while creating a powerful modern presence, still be landscaped into nature. The building is partially bermed over from street side with very small profile almost hiding from street view but revealing itself once inside the park. Inside the park, the building takes a bridge form connecting to the mountain wall on the North side, providing a hearth and center for the park while allowing free pedestrian flow underneath from East to West.

Ground Floor:

The Entry to the Center is from underside of the building at ground level into an open and transparent reception lobby with waiting area and a sculptural staircase to the upper level. At the reception lobby level, an outdoor café is located at the shaded underside of the building for both visitors to the Park as well as visitors to the center. This open area on the South edge of the stream provides space for social gatherings and simple dining.

Through the reception one gets to the management office and amenities on the East side, Stair and elevator core in the center and Educational space and Memorial space on the West side. The Stair and Elevator core connects the Basement level for deliveries, mechanical, storage and utilities to both ground and second level of the Center.

Memorial space is conceived as a quiet and somber space with low lumen lighting. We imagine encasing the 13 cubic meters of victims’ ashes in a 1 meter wide by 1 meter high by 13 meters long cube of black granite floating slightly above a recessed body of reflecting water. There will be concealed linear lighting around the depressed edge of the water. This recessed area allows for seating all along the edges of water for observing the mass and magnitude of 13 cubic meters of human ashes memorialized in this matter. Further along the slanted wall is a ramp that takes visitors to the lowered stepped part of the hall for meditation seating and nondenominational prayer area.

Second Floor:

Visitors arrive to the Second floor in a double height opening and continue through to the Special Exhibition and Permanent Exhibition tucked on the Northern part as if dug into the mountain. Between the two exhibition spaces a friendly café and a small merchandise counter greets the visitors to relax, enjoy and take in the magnificent views of the park from the East all the way West. From here there is also an external stair connecting the gardens and an outdoor café on the underside of the building with the rest of the park. The main storage for the exhibition also resides on this floor for easy access to the exhibition spaces. There are also set of Men’s and Women’s bathrooms on this level.

PARK LANDSCAPE DESIGN:

The main concern here was to differentiate between the excavated areas as Sacred grounds to commemorate the historical incidents and victims. Alternative paths are designed to allow visitors to bypass these areas and give privacy to people who have come to these grounds for commemorating the lost loved ones.

Planting Design is considered to use all indigenous trees, Pine and Korean Pine native to the area mainly at the Northern boundaries of the site to blend and integrate with the forest. The Southern boundaries North of the new Konryong Street will have mixture of Oaks, Sawtooth Oaks and other broad-leaf shade trees mixed with Pine and Evergreens as visual and noise screen from the street. Mongolian Oaks, Oriental oaks and sawtooth Oaks will be used individually as iconic and sculptural shade trees throughout the park in strategic and seating areas. Zelkova trees will be used in smaller more intimate areas around the excavated sacred grounds.

The natural ground cover berm areas will have planting beds at their boundaries in an organic form and various densities for perennial and evergreen flowers, plants and grasses local to the area.

Native grasses are planned for the Stream banks to prevent soil erosion and slow down the runoff water into the Stream.

Eco Friendly Design:

All pedestrian path surfaces will be of permeable pavers locally available and all lighting in the park will be of indirect down lighting to prevent light pollution. Balanced Cut and fills have been considered to preserve the natural grade. Proper drainage system to be designed appropriately and to be kept to a minimum required to allow for rapid drainage during heavy rainfalls.

In conclusion all materials in the design of The Park and Center will be evaluated for their life cycle and embodied carbon footprint and recyclable contents.

Geothermal and solar mechanical and electrical systems will be evaluated for their efficiency as renewable energy systems. Graywater reuse for irrigation in the park will also be considered based on local expectations and industry tradition.

Permeable interlocking concrete pavers are proposed for the Parking Area. The capacity of the parking is 103 cars 8 Handicapped accessible parking and 8 buses South of the Konryong Street and 15 on site at Entry as well as East end of the site.