The concept of the Korean Friendship Garden is based on the philosophical background and lifestyle of the “Han-ok” (Korean traditional house). However, instead of directly applying the visual features of the Han-ok, a new design will show a modern interpretation of traditional Korean architecture, using architectural programs and its poetry as story-telling tools.
The architectural language and space composition are derived from traditional ideas like: Feng-Shui (Art of spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy), Cha-Kyung (Borrowing and controlling views to create harmony between indoor and outdoor), and Ma-dang (Central courtyard in Han-Ok as a place of an active, empty void).
From these, the following key design concepts were proposed:
1. Touching the land gently:
Building bases, slabs, and platforms that follow the slope of the site, avoiding disturbance of the natural land and life there - an architecture in respect of the existing ecology of the land and its past.
2. Touching the sky softly:
A minimal platform roof that emerges from the street level and forms into a roof garden. The simple form will emphasise the horizontality of the land and skyline while creating a volume and backdrop like a hill. Inspired by the roof line of the Han-ok, the roof edge is to be lifted slightly. This will elongate building mass and extend one’s view to the sky. Wildflowers that can be found in Korean and Australian landscapes would be planted on the roof garden, where people will walk through to reach the sky and view the ground.
3. Open and free in between:
Between two horizontal lines of earth line (base) and skyline (roof), there are a series of open and free spaces in between. By using operable screens and the method of Cha-kyung, we will create transitional spaces between in and out, spaces that fold and unfold, a spatial journey to experience, feel, study, play, and meditate.
4. Open and free together:
At the core of the garden, there is a central open space called Ma-dang. This will be a place where light, wind, scent, sound, and people will be gathered together, then flow back. It is an active void, an empty space full of presence and energy.
