Nicolas Koff 5/29/19 Nicolas Koff 5/29/19

416 Park and Memorial

Beyond the water, a forest of tall trees stands out even from a distance. Below these trees, twinkling lights, and a solemn space to gather and commemorate the tragedy of the Sewol Ferry. This is the first scenery that people who visit 416 park will encounter.

  
    Location:
    Asan, South Korea
  
    Status:
    Competition Entry
  
    Date:
    2021
  
With:
    HLD Landscape

The Sewol ferry disaster touched all of Korean society. 416 park will welcome people so that they may commemorate the victims of the tragedy, and find hope and support in the midst of sorrow. There are still many questions that remain unanswered about the ferry disaster, and 416 park must also be a place to gain understanding and find answers to these questions. 416 park is a place with many different identities: a place of mourning and commemoration, a place of learning and solidarity, and a place to cherish life and live each day with hope in our hearts.

The twinkling lights in the forest lead to a space with stone slabs that symbolize all the anonymous citizens who participate in the remembrance process. This is a collective memory space that invites all to reflect upon the events of 4/16. Glass blocks placed between the stones transmit warm sunlight to the space where the 250 of the victims from Danwon High School are laid to rest. Light shines down into the underground, illuminating a place for more inward remembrance, away from the crowds, and when the evening twilight sets, 304 points of light shine into the night.

The stone slabs of the collective memory space

Light shines from above, into the space of remembrance

Spaces of solidarity and spaces of remembrance

The park has many roles to play: it must support mourning, commemoration, learning, healing, and finally the day-to-day life of the local community. These roles must coexist without conflict. Certain roles require dedicated spaces, a singular place of remembrance and enshrinement, a place with amenities for community building and support, etc… These spaces have distinct identities, but are connected through a pathway that also provides access to the the exhibition and documentation spaces.

All facilities on site function independently while being connected. Mostly underground, the community and exhibition spaces have a subdued expression.

A subdued yet inviting community center and office pavillion, is located to the south, above the storehouse for ease of loading and access. Connected to this building, but publicly accessible from the central ramp, the exhibition space and large multi-purpose hall provide a different experience. These are also conveniently located adjacent to the storehouse.

The Exhibition Spaces

The exhibition lobby is accessed from the ramp that leads to the commemoration spaces. Upon entering, visitors can access the multi-purpose hall at the same level, or proceed to the exhibition spaces located underground (at the same level as the storehouse). Permanent and special exhibition spaces are located across from each other around a central courtyard, allowing each to have its own procession.

Nature and life permeate almost all spaces on site, whether it be through light, forests or water. The exhibition building follows that thread by having at its core a vegetated courtyard, around which major circulation is structured. It is a way to bring light down and anchor an element of life into a place that not only educates visitors about a tragedy, but also commemorates the life of the victims.

The Community Plaza

Unlike the exhibition and commemoration components of the site, the community center, along with its surrounding landscape should foster a sense of welcoming and inclusion. It is a place that provides ongoing support to the local community and should feel warm and comfortable rather than iconic and monumental. The community center prioritizes horizontality, maximizing connections to the plazas and forest that surround it. It disappears from view as visitors descend along the path that leads to the exhibition and commemoration spaces.

Nicolas Koff 5/20/19 Nicolas Koff 5/20/19

Memorial to the Civilian Victims of the Korean War

  
    Location:
    Daejeon, South Korea
  
    Status:
    Competition Proposal
  
    Date:
    2020

The site is a valley with a creek running through it. 70 years ago, the natural flow of life in the valley was disrupted. The creek, the hills, and the trees have witnessed historical events. They were here when people were killed.

The memorial needs to accomplish two distinct aims. First, it should document and communicate historical facts. It must allow people to understand what happened. Second, it must heal and reconcile, and let people move on and continue life. It needs to restore the cultural continuity and repair the relationship to the dead.

The site is a place with many identities. A place of trauma, a place of communal grieving, a place of personal grieving, a place of healing and reconciliation and a place of learning. While these different identities are closely interconnected, they each have their own processes and must be given their own spaces to reach their full potential. Finally, the inclusion of others needs to be facilitated and procedures encouraging inclusivity are established.

Distinct zones are created through basic landscape and planting strategies. The valley is transformed through clearing the land on one end, and planting a new forest on the other. The flow of time must be stopped, so the violence is never forgotten, and it must be allowed to continue.

The Documentation Zone is the space of visible trauma and public grieving. The Memorial Hall, at the heart of the Documentation Zone, provides a secluded, intensely affective experience. The Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, is a space for communal learning and community growth, connecting different zones around it. Healing Forest, space of reconciliation and personal grieving. At the end of the Healing Forest, the Memorial Space contains columbaria and a chapel.

Approach to Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Nicolas Koff 5/15/19 Nicolas Koff 5/15/19

Lety u Písku

  
    Location:
    Lety, Czech Republic
  
    Status:
    Finalist Design
  
    Date:
    2020

Running through the length of the site, the scar is the physical manifestation of a story which has been buried, the story of the Roma and Sinti. Constant, unwavering and unbroken, it is meant to relay that the land and its people have witnessed a trauma.

While the site’s final design cannot fully be defined without the input of survivors, their families and the Roma and Sinti communities, the proposal creates a procession through the site: from the visitor center, the scar leads visitors from the waters of Lipes Pond, north through the pig farm, a contemporary layer of trauma, and into the reconstructed concrete walls of the so-called- Gypsy camp, from which visitors emerge into the forest to gradually meet the burial site. This procession is meant to be an immersive, solemn and informative experience, where visitors begin to understand the complex layers of the site’s history. It is an experience where layers of history intersect with current conditions to illustrate the story of Roma and Sinti people in Bohemia.

We believe this memorial can also become a gateway to the story of Roma and Sinti in the broader region, and educational trails and pathways will reconnect critical historical sites to the memorial: the quarry, the parish cemetery in Mirovice and the train station. This will be done through trail markers and a series of new benches and informational signage that use the same materiality as that of the memorial.

Following the scar, the story of the site unfolds and the history of the Roma and Sinti is revealed. The Scar brings visitors through a procession of stories, artifacts, empty spaces, narrow pathways, successional forest-scapes, and memorials. Whether arriving on site via the parking lot on the west, or through the trails connected to Lety and neighbouring towns, the memorial’s elements form a sequence that can be viewed in many different orders. The story of the site can begin at the visitor centre where introductory material is provided and the basic necessities of the site are located. The visitor centre is a point of departure, or point of comfort, and a hub for all exhibition buildings on site.

Repurposed pig farms house exhibition and museum spaces that showcase the history of the Roma and Sinti before, during and after WW2, as well as introducing spaces for more contemporary cultural exhibits. The pig farms stand as a fragment of the site’s history, namely an attempt to cover up and disregard the atrocities which took place on the land. To demolish the farm would effectively erase an important aspect of the site and the narrative: that for so long after the war, the story of this land has been ignored and hidden. Overall, these spaces provide 2059 m2 of open air performance and exhibition spaces and 2000m2 of temperature controlled closed exhibition space. These newly repurposed spaces should also be a platform for contemporary Roma and Sinti culture, supporting their agency. They should be safe spaces, spaces of resilience where Roma and Sinti culture can thrive through cultural and artistic expression, installations, performances and lectures. During the first phase of construction we foresee repurposing one farm building to contain all exhibits; these exhibits could during the second phase be split into two buildings and expanded with contemporary cultural content.

As one moves along the scar, the pig farms deconstruct and give way to the resurrected camp walls. The scar, a 0.4m deep physical cut in the landscape, deepens to 2.5m by the camp walls, allowing visitors to pass through this barrier that was a prison for so many. The ground slopes towards the scar to create entry points and guards as needed. The scar releases visitors into the barren camp, where only emptiness greets them. Ruins of camp buildings are intended to be maintained within the camp walls, however this site is intended to be a contemplative void. The scar is built out of concrete, with a thin slice of weathering steel embedded at the top, changing the concrete’s patina over time.

Passing through the only narrow cut in the camp walls, one is directed towards the burial ground. This pathway through the forest is a direct juxtaposition with the emptiness within the camp boundary. It is meant to be a reflective moment for visitors intended to quietly lead them to the burial site. Along that path, a series of wayfinding and minimal concrete benches would tell the story of the different victims, building a personal portrait that culminates in the arrival to the burial ground. Whether it is the beginning of the procession, or the end, Lipes pond lies at a point of intersection with the scar. The physical manifestation of pain vanishes into the shores of the pond’s waters.

The building strategy aims to be sensitive to the memory of the site as well as lower carbon footprint by reusing existing structures and reducing new construction on site. Rather than removing the entirety of the pig farms on site, erasing their memory as an integral part of the traumatic history of the site, we propose reusing a selected few pig farms as exhibition and performance spaces. With minimal gravel and soil infilling, as well as interior retrofits and insulation, the buildings can help tell the story of the site, while minimizing new construction and waste. The pig farms are deconstructed into four primary forms.

The only new structure we foresee being erected on site would be the visitor center. While occupying a small footprint, the visitor center would be a hub for knowledge on the site and the regional network of historically significant places. It contains an information center, office spaces with necessary amenities, storage and warehouse spaces and public restrooms. The design is minimal yet functional, and offers flexibility to expand any spaces required. Its canopy creates sheltered seating and gathering spaces for groups, as well as a contemplation garden, which we imagine being home to a Roma or Sinti art installation, facing the entry to the scar. This building can be built to passive house and electricity net-zero standards. Use of high-efficiency air-sourced heat pumps and hydronic radiant heating would be offset by the use of low-profile solar panels located within the flat roof of the building.