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416 Memorial

The Sewol ferry disaster is one the most tragic events in Korean history. Of the 304 victims, 250 were Danwon High School students who lost their lives. 416 Memorial is a cultural park that combines exhibition, educational facilities and enschrinment spaces to commemorate the victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. The project questions how memorial as an architectural typology could be an active facility of documentation, exhibition and leisure.

The project proposes three strategies of how the memorial ccould not only be a space for remembrance and of compassion, but also act as a tool for ‘action’.

First, it creates an ‘everyday space’ for all citizens and allows their natural and easy accessibility to the park, providing opportunities for various physical and mental leisure activities. Thus, everyone’s daily life is shared with the victims.

Second, the enshrinement facility avoids the excess of metaphor, symbolism, and ‘ceremonial’ space through which would render victims as ‘anonymous’. The architecture instead presents a practical and functional exhibition space with a curatorial direction that protects and delivers small but distinct memories.

Lastly, it provides active education programmes and learning space to create collective intelligence and memory. Therefore, all citizens experience the park not just as an audience but as a ‘participant’ who questions and finds answers for issues around them and where they could eventually exhibit and shares their ideas.

LOCATION
Hwarang Park, 667 Choji-dong, Danwon-gu, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do, South korea, 2021


STATUS
Competition
2nd Place

SITE AREA
23,000 m²

TEAM
Executive Architect / SAVE architects
Landscape Design / HEA
Exhibition Design / Mediabus

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