Holiday in the DMZ
NUS | M. Arch
Semesters 9-10, August 2017 - May 2018
This thesis investigates the duality of the geopolitical border as both a line and a surface. The dual nature of the border oscillates between abstract but clear concepts of territory and on-the-ground behaviours of occupation that are often indistinct and geographically-fluid. The DMZ border between North and South Korea was chosen as model and study to develop on this understanding. Unlike many other occupied and contested international borders, the DMZ is conveniently a “no man’s land”. This proved useful towards developing an understanding of the fundamental and abstract concepts that legitimise a geopolitical border without the messy lived-in habitation that would have cluttered the border scene. Even so, the DMZ border is not without the vagueness of occupation. Military occupations aside (they reinforce the border line), the DMZ border surface between the two Koreas remain continually subjected to projected desires to occupy – whether for a unified Korea or not. Hence, even in the Korean peninsula, the ambiguity of the border condition is reproduced, wherein the legislative border once again does not match up to its cultural border.
In order to formulate a design position with which to intervene in my chosen site, a THEORY OF JUSTICE was developed. Following in the tradition of the Pacifist framework, I refute militarism as a sustainable option towards global. It is worth noting that while current events in Korea have become more optimistic, much of the “apparent” progress was made after arms were “laid down” and in the celebratory climate of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics 2018 in South Korea (even if North Korea insists that they have suspended their nuclear programme only because they have achieved the nuclear capability they sought). In light of the current goodwill shared between the two Koreas, this thesis maintains its position that peace is most sustainable between two friendly and cooperative Koreas as opposed to a unified one, and designs for a hotel that encapsulates the legitimate independence that must come with equal bilateral relations.
The control and damming of the tributaries by North Korea is considered a serious threat by South Korea.
Owing to the contested and sensitive nature of the site, site information and measurements had to be reconstructed in perspective.
Drawing inspiration from Yoko Ono's Grapefruit series, I came up with a series of 12 instructive drawings that attempts to capture the plural readings and histories of the Korean DMZ border condition as an abstracted line.
The border line has two destinies, one to divide and one as a meeting point. In Korea, the border paradox plays itself out in the JSA (Joint Security Area). As it currently still stands, the Korean border condition perpetuates itself as a site of military contest and conflict. It is where differences must be kept apart lest they come into conflict. But, the border has an alternative fate. As the interface between the two sides, it presents itself also as a meeting point, and this meeting need not be violent. In other words, the border condition could also manifest as a site of reconciliation and peaceful coexistence; where present differences between the Koreas will enrich further their culture, and history, and are celebrated.
With this alternative fate for the DMZ in mind, I designed a hotel that would accommodate hotel guests visiting the JSA from both North and South Korea and enhance the lived-in presence on site. My design strategy involves subverting the existing border condition by mirroring and reappropriating the border paradox for the architecture design. In design form, the border paradox is reappropriated formally as “the wall that connects”. This border paradox is mirrored internally in the spatial narrative for the hotel guests who come from either sides and whom can never physically meet even as they are housed in the same architecture. Architecture is crucial to this intervention as it is able to spatialise the border paradox and emplace the visitor within the experience. The re-representation of the border paradox then makes clear the two destinies of the border and forces the visitor to make a choice – instilling in them the agency and desire to reach out and go beyond the border limits, or perhaps not.
The axis for the wall that connects is oriented towards Pyongyang and Seoul. I have designed the wall as a series of columns that is receptive to further extension. As a form, it is imagined as a simultaneous reaching out to the respective capitals from the JSA. In my design, I have limited the columns to just 73 on each axis (1 for every year Korea has been divided). The rest of the programme for the hotel is laid out according to this axis. If speculated and played out to its full potential, this hotel that I am designing would be the seed and the beginning of a linear city between Pyongyang and Seoul.
Drawing stitches together historical and geopolitical analyses of the immediate JSA site context.
Site Model provides an overview of the site intervention positioned within the JSA. As the thesis contends with borders that are often invisible, it was convenient to locate the Hotel intervention over a river channel in the JSA that aligns with the MDL.
Design components illustrating connections between linkways and programme, and that suggests adaptive use for future development of the Linear City.
Drawing stitches together historical and geopolitical analyses of the immediate JSA site context.
Design Intervention (Centre/Origin + Axes)
Hotel, Linkways, and Nature/Landscaping
Image is composed of two perspectives. In the foreground is the interior perspective of the Casino floor space; in the background is the exterior perspective of the twin Casino buildings (one each for tourists from the North and South). By drawing on the two perspectives for a single image, it allows for a reading of the interior designed space in relation to the exterior designed form.
Image is composed of two perspectives. In the foreground is the interior perspective of the Casino floor space; in the background is the exterior perspective of the twin Casino buildings (one each for tourists from the North and South). By drawing on the two perspectives for a single image, it allows for a reading of the interior designed space in relation to the exterior designed form.
Design Intervention (South-East)
Casinos, Infinity Pools, and Outdoor Thermal Baths
Interior layout of North Theatre's stage-to-audience relationship juxtaposed against the facade of alternative narrative housed within the South Theatre.
Interior layout of South Theatre's stage-to-audience relationship juxtaposed against the facade of alternative narrative housed within the North Theatre.
Interior layout of North Theatre's stage-to-audience relationship juxtaposed against the facade of alternative narrative housed within the South Theatre.
Design Intervention (North-West)
Theatres
The composition of the presentation panels was driven by the same underlying thread of multiple narratives coexisting within the same space. This composition was achieved by overlaying line drawings and images of varied scales and viewpoints into a single and, on appearance, coherent image. For example, the plans are superimpositions of all floor levels, effectively collapsing the entire volume (and all its occupied narratives) into a single surface. Using the border line as the line of reference with which to provide continuity, line drawings across different scales are also arranged as a series to be read in order. Similarly, renders of the building forms and its interior spaces are stitched together into a single image to allow reading of the interior design in relation to its exterior form. The compositional strategy for this draws on the use of multiple viewpoints in the Cubist tradition, and extrusion as the device to both exaggerate occupied use and to literally bring the inside out. Observed from a step back, the panels suspend the plural narratives (political and social) that occur at different spaces and scales within a single plane – all at once for the observer to see, but not to fully comprehend.
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I would like to thank my parents, friends, and my tutor Dr. Jeffrey Chan for all their support throughout this year-long thesis endeavour, without whom I would not have accomplished the thesis I am proud of today. It had been a formative experience - one that had been critical in shaping my worldview, and that colours the landscape I would be acting in and, optimistically, contributing meaningfully towards.