The Dialogue Of Memory :WHITE WALL

The Sewol ferry disaster is one of the saddest events in Korean history. The 304 victims, the lack of national security, and the sacrifice of 250 Danwon High School students who could not fulfil their dreams provoked great awareness about safety and life in Korean society. We thought about how to design a space to commemorate this tragedy which can also coexist with the daily experiences of the Hwarang Park. In order to add a medium of memory to our daily park, we installed a wall of memory made of a symbolic and monolithic material that symbolizes the 146m length of the
Sewol ferry. This wall does not overwhelm the park but becomes a sculpture and a medium that connects the memory of the event with the park of everyday life. Through the gap between the walls, the flow of citizens was drawn in, and the low-volume elevation was formed, making the building itself the background of the park.
In addition, the trail with the urban forest expanded, the landscaping of the wide grass that meets the white wall, and various citizen participation-type cultural programs at the roof level return the space of remembrance and memory to a daily park filled with relaxation and leisure. The length of the 304m wall, which consists of a 146m-long ‘Wall of Remembrance’ and a 158m-wide ‘Wall of Daily Life/Culture’, contains the meaning of the 304 victims of the Sewol ferry disaster. The ‘ ㄱ ‘-shaped
arrangement is a white memorial wall that can be seen anywhere in the Hwarang Park, serving as a new backdrop for the park and reminds us of the Sewol Ferry incident. In particular, the gap between the main entrance opened at the northern waterfront boundary node point and the wall connected to the eastern Hwajeong Stream makes this memorial park an everyday park that can be visited without any special purpose. The white memorial wall that penetrates the ground and the underground and the inside/outside space connected between the torn gaps contain
programs (parks/commemorations/exhibitions) with different meanings and induce the participation and activities of visitors at multi-level levels. The above-ground wall is a “wall of life” linked to everyday parks, the underground wall has a meaning as a “wall of remembrance” for the victims. The skylight penetrating the underground social memory space is the light that the victims wish to be enshrined in a bright
place, and it is the light of remembrance of the soul. The void space in the basement and the light coming down the walls show a brighter and comfortable future. This wall of light follows the sequence of memory-exhibition-remembrance (urns) on the first and second basement floors, and citizens come down to the story of the Sewol ferry as they go down the wall and arrive at the enshrining space at the end of the wall of light. The sanctuary containing the sky and nature can deeply commemorate the victims of Danwon High School and is reborn as a healing space for the bereaved families.