Across the Void
In Collaboration with Christian Reyling
This project speculates on the possibility of creating an underground bath-house within the Korean Demilitarized Zone that responds to the surrounding geopolitical conditions. What if new forms of non-military architecture could occupy this border zone and begin to ease the existing tension? How does architecture position itself in the middle of this labyrinth of tension?
Abysm
A border is often thought of as a physical boundary. It can be a deciding factor of well-being and livelihood for an individual, it can be the difference between speaking a language or practicing a culture, and on occasion the difference between life and death.
When a border becomes a void it can become more powerful that any physical boundary. With a void in the earth a condition where only emptiness separates people is created. It is with a voided separation between one another that people can truly understand the implications associated with a border. It Is much different to see another across a border; it allows insight that can only be given when viewing the conditions of another.
To be able to see another but not touch, hear another but not speak, and long for a connection but have none creates a space in which individuals can reflect on what a border really is.
One enters a pool to cleanse the mind.
Immersed in the fog searching for answers you are hit by a light that shows you a place across a void.
As your eyes adjust to the light, you realize that another is sitting in the opposite direction.
You stare at each other in silence as the other extends their arm to reach for your hand, trying to bridge what’s keeping them apart.