Building Type: Visitor Center / Museum
Status: Design Competition Entry “Yisabu Dokdo Memorial Park International Competition”
Site: Samcheock City, South Korea
Area: 3,315 m2
Assisted by: Talin Vakilian
Year: 2017
A proposed hill-like structure enfolds Mt. Yukhyang. This single story building combines Tourist Information Center, Yisabu Memorial Hall, and Dokdo Experience Space, under a rolling green roof.
Entry to a site is located on New Millennium Road, which leads to the scenic coastline of the East Sea. This site approach reflects a maritime theme of both Kim Yisabu’s achievement as a General, and Dokdo as islets.
Two generously sized circular courtyards are cut-out from the roof: one serves as a building & park entry where circulation flow is active (陽).
This “Low Profile” roof-scape gradually descends at north-west corner and merges into the surrounding park-scape. The roofline peaks in the middle, forming plentiful ceiling height for the Symbolic Exhibition Hall & Physical Model Exhibition Space underneath.
Majority of interior partitions are free standing walls. They are few meters shy of the finished ceiling above, in order to appreciate the undulating roof-scape.
The proposal does NOT take side of a political dispute taking place between Korea & Japan over Dokdo/Takeshima Islands. Instead, the project intends to extract an essence of the site, embraces a rich culture bred over centuries in the region, and wishes for a prosperity of people visit and live in the area – through Architecture.