Queen Hur Memorial Park

Queen Hur Memorial Park Competition

Ayodhya, India

Design Period : Oct. 2016

Architect : Simplex Architecture

Landscape Architect : DSW Landscape Design & Construction

First Prize

As a result of the Korea-India summit in 2015, the Queen Huh Memorial Park Project will be a joint project to strengthen cultural and human exchanges between the two countries. It will reorganize the existing Queen Huh Memorial Park in the city of Ayodhya in India, It is an attempt to link a park with nearby urban organizations, commercial and cultural facilities by expanding parks. Queen Huh, the historical figure who is the invaluable background of this project, is known as a wife of King Suro Kim, the king of the Garak Kingdom, and is known to have come from Ayuttha, the ancient state of Ayodhya in India. In addition to strengthening the historical and cultural ties between Korea and India, It plays an important role in urban regeneration.

Our proposal is based on cultural, historical and religious atmosphere.

First, we translocate the existing Ghat which decouples the town from Sarayu River. Rearrangement of V-shaped Ghat makes gently sloped site. And a plaza in the center of reorganized site becomes facing the Sarayu River. Furthermore, a well-appointed street, paralleled to the axis of the surrounding urban tissue, induces citizens to have the close connection with the city and natural flow.

Secondly, we avoid the entire demolition of old buildings, but juxtapose with horizontally extended buildings in a way of reinterpretation of the past as well as the present. These programs are located at the beginning and end of the street for further activities.

Third, we choose materials that show a certain vernacular features to be able to represent Indian history and culture, at the same time, materials that show modernity like metal are used. Also Indigenous patterns of ancient India and Korea was valuable design elements. It is planned as an architectural medium to communicate the history and culture of two different countries, 

Meditation Pavilion

On the existing GHAT, there is a meditation room on the east side of the site. It is used by many locals for a space of worship. It might be not have a much values in terms of building itself. However, it should be dealt as a symbolic building that shows the life of the city. We put an effort to preserve and reproduce the invisible value. A podium was installed to overcome the difference in level with the newly established street. In addition, contemporary reinterpreted meditation places were further arranged in parallel for reinforcing religious programs. Resting spaces and cafes are newly created as healing and resting spaces in daily life. The metal columns as a slender frame lightly support the plat roof, and the inner space is divided by the transparent glass to maximize the visual openness and contrast with the conventional meditation placed side by side.

Rest Pavilion

The existing restroom, which is located on the west side of the site, was constructed with a simple structure of two stories and had an opening design of Mogul architecture style. It was provided as a shelter and rest space for local residents. We suggest renewal such a lagging building due to its architectural potential. new programs are juxtaposed and expanded. On the first floor, a public restroom and administrative office, which is the essential facility for management of the park, was installed. On the second floor, a linear observation deck will be used to view the surroundings such as Sarayu River and daily life. It reflects a general tradition of Korean pavilions. Two buildings, which have the same volume and form, are closely ties by a transparent staircase in between, but facade, structure, and spatial systems definitely make a distinction. It is designed to reveal the difference and harmony between the old and new.