Bunkers as difficult heritage: imagining future for underground spaces in Seoul
- Authors
- Yun, Jieheerah
- Issue Date
- 1-Jan-2022
- Publisher
- TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
- Keywords
- Bunker; reuse; underground space; Seoul; difficult heritage
- Citation
- JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING, v.21, no.4, pp.1211 - 1222
- Journal Title
- JOURNAL OF ASIAN ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING ENGINEERING
- Volume
- 21
- Number
- 4
- Start Page
- 1211
- End Page
- 1222
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/hongik/handle/2020.sw.hongik/15915
- DOI
- 10.1080/13467581.2021.1941980
- ISSN
- 1346-7581
- Abstract
- This paper examines underground bunkers in Seoul and explores different ways of reusing spaces that have a problematic heritage. In particular, I look at three bunkers in Seoul - the Yeouido, Kyeongheegung, and Daebangdong bunkers - in comparison to subway stations and other underground spaces designated as potential shelters by the state. I divide the bunkers into two types: those that have been in disuse or used for non-military purposes in peacetime, a distinction that corresponds to two different ways of envisaging disused bunkers. I argue that, unlike in the US and Germany, where wartime bunkers offered a psychological defense, in South Korea, bunkers failed to instill a sense of security, and so they contributed to the absence of discourse in South Korea about a possible life underground or a "bunker society." After analyzing the three bunkers and comparing them to more mundane underground spaces, the paper concludes that bunkers can be incorporated into everyday uses through small-scale design interventions that encourage resident participation, and this incorporation will not necessarily entail a loss of memory or a trivialization of traumatic historical events.
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Collections - College of Architecture > Architecture Major > 1. Journal Articles
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