Beaches+Cities+Dislocations 해변 + 도시 + 전위

The time has come for me to distill my research allowing a clear strategic direction to emerge. I have discovered the Jimjilbang, which are to me purifying spaces embeded in the culture and urban fabric of Seoul. What I am currently concentrating on  in preparation for my gift project is a strategy of looking for physical dislocations within the city. 


The Cheonggycheon stream project is an example where the city has rediscovered a natural, historical enitity deep within the city centre. This infrastructural beach provides connections between pure and unpure parts of the city. Similary the Han was cruelly disconnected from the city and I will return to the Park to search out a site that illustrates an abrupt dislocation. Butlin's has long been an isolated 'city' within the town, a self contained community. Permeating Butlins' hard barrier will create a connection with the town. The potential of the southern boundary shared with the promenade has been neglected by the resort. Its metal spiked fence implies a negative relationship with the beach and the town. An interesting way of dealing with Butlins' dislocation could be to treat it as a city.

Photomontage of the Cheonggycheon Stream project. The urban dislocation is now a memory.

Seoul has reconnected with its Rivers through physical connections such as bridges, lifts and tunnels. The park is the length of the river, which in turn becomes the length of the city. The same spatial relationship happens in Bognor where the promenade is a public space the length of the town.  My goal is to discover a dislocated site that informs a method of reforming a connection. Possible strategies may become paths, physical interventions or the framing of views. In Bognor my strategy is to reveal the beach to the town, a method of enacting a flow that blends the two extremes.