Architect: Jadric Architektur ZT GMBH
Project type: Competition
Award: Honorable Mention
Year: 2022
Place: Jeollanam-Do, Republic of Korea
Project team: Mladen Jadric, Nikolaus Punzengruber, Jakob Mayer, Byonghun Lee
How to properly tell the story of the Namdo Righteous
Army History Museum and its origin, meaning and symbolism
for society?
The Namdo Righteous Army is undoubtedly difficult to understand
without insight into the Korean landscape, rural life and agriculture. The
Korean Community forms a complex cultural space in which the diverse
activities harmonize and develop within the surrounding landscape.
Our design proposes a complex cultural space that includes the
interconnection of all trails, the installation of sculptures, the creation
of attractors, etc. It shall become a vivid base for locals and promote
cultural tourism. The result is an all-encompassing master plan for
museums and outdoor spaces for the entire site.
Thus, the potential of the area is further enhanced. The educational
purpose of the museum is surrounded by new attractive tourist
destinations: Walking and cycling trails between Yeongsan River, Daya
Plain, Sa-am Reservoir and Yeongsan – river trips, hiking and biking
trails.
The concept envisions a unified material (Corten steel) that should
visually and functionally connect the entire facility. Exterior space and
interior space form a conceptual unity.
The potential of the topography is used to the maximum – the existing
terrasses of the terrain is maintained after the demolition of the scenery
buildings. The exceptionally beautiful natural topography of the place is
aactivated with a system of open walkways.
Natural Space – Cultural Space: Jeollanam-do was the most active in the volunteer movement of the
righteous army when the country was in crisis. Their history should be
precisely researched and systematically exhibited so that their spirit
can live on in new generations.
The forest park is an image of nature with as few artificial constructions
as possible for visitors. Here, on the other hand, the Park of Memory
requires a real cluster of public and cultural facilities.
In fact, this park should be a reflection of society, where individual
themes stimulate and encourage social interaction.
Creating a society also means to have an open construction site,
therefore we prefer to talk about process stimulation rather than a
park that should serve for pure entertainment. In terms of a possible
transformation, it is more about proposing a method that is concerned
with architectural precision and planning indeterminacy. In doing so,
the attributes of society adaptability, evolvability and redundancy help
us to design a series of „possibility fields“.
The design strategy of the project initially aims to achieve maximum
benefit from placing a certain number of subjects with appropriate
facilities. Based on the formal concept of a grid, the planning
indeterminacy allows any subsequent changes. The point is to organize
the individual areas into a dynamic coexistence of activities.
NETWORK OF ATTRACTORS OR MOVEMENT AS A PROCESS
We propose several layers which, by overlapping, will eventually form the new cultural landscape:
- Precisely distributed in the landscape are the movement attractors: Hostel, Information Center with Caffe, Museum, Conservation Center, Open Air Museum /Memorial, starting points of paths into the landscape etc.
- A sky park is placed over the landscape and connects the movement attractors. Individual buildings dock to Sky Park like fruit on a branch.
- Intermediate stations influence development of individual fields – they gradually grow and develop as their own themed landscapes.
SURFACE GRAFTING – REFINEMENT
Just as nature produces gold – as a tree grows and bears fruit in
nature, the main attractions within the park must find their place within
the overall concept.
The park brings three categories from the natural landscape:
- First, the garden
A yard is a space with a limited area divided by a grid. Yards are
divided according to height, density and transparency. A variety of
plant characteristics distinguish gardens: gardens are constructed
from a mixture of certain native and other cultural species. - Second, Sky Path
The Sky Path is a road that connects the entire park of memories, all
the attractors, and settles in the building ensemble.
If you look at the yard in the direction of entry of the sky path lined
from the southeast to the northwest, the plants overlap each other,
creating a dense forest. From the southwest to the northeast, the
density is low and it has an open view towards nature. As you
progress through the Sky Path, you will discover different courtyards.
-Thirdly, the natural forest supports the garden where plants grow,
and becomes the basic organization that serves as the background of
the architectural attraction.
