BORDERS – The Korean DMZ Bathhouse Competition, Far East Architecture Contest
BORDERS – The Korean DMZ Bathhouse Competition
East Asian Architectural Contest – designing at conflict lines between territories
1 Dec 2016
BORDERS – The Korean DMZ Bathhouse Competition
BORDERS – The Korean DMZ Bathhouse Competition
arch out loud is an architectural research initiative that hosts international design competitions.
Their latest architecture competition, BORDERS – The Korean DMZ Bathhouse, focuses on the tension surrounding the North and South Korean border.
BACKGROUND
Borders hold deep meaning, but they are just lines. Throughout history, the definition of territory has remained a fundamental determinant of power. Borders carry immense historical, political, and cultural implications; at the center of conflict, there is delineation; there is drawing lines. Borders are representations in plan view?lines on a map which are not necessarily tied to any physical thing. At most, they materialize in the common form of a wall which seldom traces the entire length of the border it delineates. One notable exception is the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). 
If the traditional border is a line, then the DMZ is a surface. At four (4) kilometers-wide, it is a border territory: a border with its own border; a boundary space; a materialized, geopolitical line separating North and South Korea. It is one of the most heavily militarized and fortified borders in ...