Spatial Translations of Korean Reunification

This thesis speculates how architecture can promote the “Sequential Reunification Process” of North and South Korea. Premised on Phase One of the Reunification scheme, it champions progressive unity and proactive disciplinary action. To formalise this vision, it argues the pertinence of Foucault’s “heterotopias” to spatially rationalize and exploit the present state of division.

In anticipation of social diversification, the heterotopian framework embraces the condition of coexistence, to express the prevailing spatio-cultural disparities of each nation. Accordingly, this thesis investigates the function of architecture within the discourse of Korean Reunification, examines the spatial idiosyncrasies of North and South Korea, and subsequently develops two heterotopian interventions.

The two proposals, one superimposed in Seoul, South Korea, and the other in Pyongyang, North Korea, spatially synthesize the dominant ideologies of the “Other”, encompassing an inter-Korean exchange. This juxtaposition of the North into the South, and vice versa, embodies the objective of Phase One, which fosters cultural exchange and mutual understanding of the “Other”.