Jin Young Song's 'Slanted Memorial' Recognized in International Competition
Jin Young Song's Slanted Memorial proposes housing as a memorial site on the border of North and South Korea. (View of Slanted Memorial from East, pastel drawing+photoshop, courtesy of Jin Young Song)
Published February 25, 2014 This content is archived.
Assistant Professor of Architecture Jin Young Song was recently awarded Special Mention for Slanted Memorial, a housing and memorial project, in the 2013 d3 Unbuilt Visions Competition.
Designed to “promote critical debate about architecture and design by acknowledging excellence in unbuilt projects," the annual Unbuilt Visions competition is sponsored by d3, an organization committed to advancing innovative positions in architecture, art and design. The competition recognized four grand prize projects and 11 special mentions.
Song's Slanted Memorial proposes housing for families separated during the Korean War, sited at Korea's demilatarized zone. Though fighting ceased in 1953, the war is not officially over and families remain separated across the Korean border. Song's design concept envisions housing as a memorial and "the most sacred and primitive form of our remembrance." He adds, "while a usual memorial is built after the event to commemorate it, I suggest a memorial that is commemorating ongoing events and addressing the life of the separated families."
"We suggest symbolizing this situation as a form of Memorial by 'slantedness'. Tilting the housing intends to symbolize the ideological dispute and tragic history between North Korea and South Korea. Architecturally, it also makes the housing’s bottom face transform into a main façade of memorial," Song states.
The winning projects, including Slanted Memorial , were featured in the Unbuilt Visions exhibition in January at the TSMD Turkish Architectural Center in Ankara.