Korean War Memorial Park for Civilian Victims

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety of the Republic of Korea hosted an international design competition for a National Memorial to commemorate the civilian victims who lost their lives during the Korean War. Described in world history as one of the deadliest civil wars in the shortest time periods, and then expanding into an international war, nearly 300,000 civilians were killed in massacres led by military police and hostile civilian groups. The intent of the Memorial Park and Memorial Hall is to bear witness and acknowledge the lessons learned from such tragedies left by war while honoring the victims and their bereaved families.

Along with Agenda Architecture, our submission physically and metaphorically reclaims the site of one of these massacres by navigating the relationships between subgrade & surface, truth & history, permanence & transience. Referencing traditional Korean gardens, landscape principles, and arts & crafts, the design aims to reestablish within the Korean Republic a relationship with an honest history. By constructing a memorial in their honor, a memory is created for those civilians who were arduously forgotten.