Architecture, Urbanism & Design
Journey never ends. Every sunset reminds the close; every morning comes in an unfamiliar city. Confused and exhausted, home is still far off. Behold, the cloud is meaningless. If the image is clear, the birds should be useless; (they are) intended or not, the decision is not yours. That causes the pain; one’s own creativity pretends to follow the other’s.
Designed to minimize the footprint without losing the solidity to take the excessive load of the high-speed trains, the gilded railroad bridge follows the sober contour of the previous proposal (the memorial). As a part of the project DMZ, the image takes the similar configuration. Picturesque mountains lead the visual composition; the bridge of the traditional exposure comes to the center where the seasonal hue of the background disappears.
As an immature aspiration, the proposal includes the future. In the middle of the waves of brush strokes, uncovering the transition from the achromatic distant view to the delightful close front, as from the forbidden area to the lively land and as from the past of the DMZ to the future, the railroad bridge presents an irregular layout to create a silent hopefulness.
Peacefully mist-shrouded, the mountains draw boundaries to the both sides; the tension merges into the innocent landscape. The DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) of the Korean Peninsula was born from the war that never ends, leaving its nature as it was. Reunion or recurrence, while its future is unpredictable, the proposal for a memorial focuses on the message of the history.
The memorial is simply a thick and tall gilded wall shaped in solemn language, including a narrow passage and temporary use as an exhibition area. However, the leading actor of the image is the environment which is fairly pictorial, instead of the memorial that is materialized in strictly conventional expression. The composition emphasizes the contrast between the nature and the artificial, creating an emotional torsion by reminding the uninhabitable land and the human fault.
A simple painting could call an unexpected feeling when its covered message appears through that kind of antithesis. The image of the memorial exposes a narrative, not to celebrate or encourage, but to remember and transfer the message from the harsh reality; that’s the potential of the image and the power of the suggestion.
J-W.H/A+U&D 