Park 416
Year: 2021
Location: Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Competition Entry: 416 Memorial Park International Design Competition
Hinterlands Team: Conor O’Shea
Architecture: Chicago Design Office
Park 416 integrates architecture and landscape into a holistic memorial design for the Sewol Ferry victims.
The northern part of the site holds the Outdoor Memorial and Memorial Garden—two programs that suggest quiet, reverential experiences, with expansive views of the reservoir. The Outdoor Memorial contains 250 kobus magnolia (Magnolia kobus), planted as saplings by current students from Danwon High School. Beneath each kobus magnolia tree is a sponsored plaque commemorating the victims from Danwon High School. Stone benches are positioned throughout the Outdoor Memorial to allow visitors to rest and be immersed in beautiful dappled sunlight.
Inspired by Korean cultural tradition, the Memorial Garden is filled with masses of yellow spring bulbs, whose annual blooms coincide with April 16th. Its edges are defined by an earthen berm planted with a mix of flowering herbaceous perennials and grasses, buffering the garden from noise and wind, and attracting pollinators.
The Amphitheater is located south of the Memorial Garden, opening toward the planted areas and the reservoir beyond. The stage may be used for concerts, public gatherings, and other events throughout the year, with the Memorial Garden as an ever-changing backdrop. A series of public terraces cascades away from the theater towards the southern edge of the site, and can be used for picnics, outdoor leisure, and smaller outdoor events.
The Memorial Building anchors the southern part of the site and sits in dialogue with the Industrial History Museum. The building’s central design element is an elliptical dome, which acts as the social memory space and primary circulation node. The dome is a solemn and sublime space with a light oculus at its top and a reflecting pool at its base, engaging visitors in an act of communal contemplation framed by shifting light and reflections throughout the day. The dome holds walkways and stairs that lead to the other primary building programs: exhibition, enshrinement, staff, and learning/doing spaces, each with their own unique architectural identity. A dynamic building facade of glass and metal fins creates surprising moments of indoor/outdoor connection throughout the building.
Through this highly integrated memorial design, the edges between landscape and architecture are blurred as contemplative experiences. The victims of the ferry disaster are celebrated through planting, light, and sublime architectural forms.
