UN Memorial / ACME

Oct 2009

By Karen Cilento — Filed under: Architecture News ,Awarded Competitions ,Monuments and Memorials , ACME, Chungju, South Korea, UN Memorial

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London-based architecture firm ACME was awarded third prize in a recent competition to design a United Nations memorial. Initiated by the city of Chungju in South Korea, the selected memorial will rest in the city’s UN Peace Park. ACME’s proposal is comprised of a 1,500 seating assembly, two conference halls, a theater and exhibition spaces. The organization of the memorial is metaphorically modeled similarly to the United Nations, where many parts make up the whole.

More about the memorial after the break.

Similar to how the UN is formed by individual nations, the memorial entails a cube comprised of smaller “cells.” These cells, which are meant to represent the “collective nature of the UN’s identity” fuse together to create the final shape. Each piece functions differently as some provide exhibition space and others function as offices and restaurants. ACME explained that the “memorial should represent the nature of the United Nations, where many individual nations come together to create one entity, but without losing their individual identities.”

ACME, London
Kelvin Chu , Daewon Kwak , Friedrich Ludwig , Isabel de la Mora , Monica Prenziuso, Teresa Yeh

Yooshin Architects & Engineers
Kim Chidok, Daehee Lee, Samyong Park, Daeoh Kwon, Hyunkyoung Oh, Jungheum Yun

Section

: © ACME

: Site plan

: Section

: Section

: Groundfloor, Assembly Hall

: 1st floor, Assembly plan

: 3rd floor, lecture halls

: 7th floor, education offices

: 12th floor

: 13th floor

: 14th floor

: 15th floor

Cite:
Cilento , Karen . "UN Memorial / ACME" 12 Oct 2009. ArchDaily. Accessed 08 Feb 2012. <http://www.archdaily.com/37318>

Comments (23)
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2MACoff says:

АХУИТЕЛЬНА

# October 12, 2009 at 08:22

fer says:

шо именно?

# October 13, 2009 at 10:22

Happy_Robot says:

Water bubble strikes again

# October 12, 2009 at 10:16

kpp says:

A reductive comment. Geometric similarities, yes, but spatially, completely different buildings. At least these bubbles / cells are inhabitable. I think it could be a wonderful space to explore – if the complexity of the sections are anythign to go by.

# October 12, 2009 at 15:20

Yes, you’re right from that point of view.
I just expressed a first impression of mine. )

Now it looks more like a honeycomb to me.
Full of busy work-a-holics bees =)

Rhyme was accidental… (:

Nice sections, btw.

# October 13, 2009 at 01:38

Chas says:

really like the design but I’m having a hard time with the constructability of this. doesn’t seem like an acheivable vision. I do see some indications in the building sections of structure so maybe this can be done. I’ve been wrong before and would happy to be again.

# October 12, 2009 at 11:04

JP says:

Alucinante!

# October 12, 2009 at 11:12

ru.bot says:

ahh.. peace, i often dream of doves in RCP drawings.

# October 12, 2009 at 11:14

Tchouah says:

The design stroke me, but i can’t expain why this building is a mémorial, a United Nations mémorial…
The UN is an hive ? Nations are bees and peace is honey ?

Very poetic, very pathetic

# October 12, 2009 at 15:42

kc says:

Pretty cool, but doesn’t speak UN to me. Maybe more like a school :) Idea is good, but the outcome needs to be more elegant..

# October 12, 2009 at 17:42

..and there should be a dark industrial iron-clad room for all the politicians, not doves and sunshine..that’s for us.

# October 12, 2009 at 17:46

rupertKensington says:

voronoi….yawn…. you undermine your architecture SO quickly by organizing it spatially and aesthetically from this architectural trend of the ‘voronoi’. the entire spatial layout in this model can be done in 3 to 4 clicks in CAD software like rhino. the entire project is shoved in this entirely random algorithmic box. is that innovation? thoughtfulness? i don’t know.. nice renderings though.

# October 12, 2009 at 18:29

scarpasez says:

…don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater just because you think a recognizable organizational method reflects an unoriginal or undisciplined approach: to be sure there are many bads ones, but there are good voronoi projects out there as well. “You could say something similar: yawn…the nine square grid…it can be done by drawing eight lines, and the entire project is shoved into this regular box.” Rather like the nine-sqaure grid, Voronoi can be an extremely useful tool for design: it’s simply a method. Without deeper purpose, it’s exactly the bit of fetishized nonsense you’re critical of. Fair enough…but it surely isn’t all bad. Good architects and bad architects alike rely on these tools, with differential results.

# October 12, 2009 at 18:48

cellardoor says:

thumbs up rupert!
@scar: shouldnt quality architecture indicate the necessity
of deeper purpose to everything.
larchpurlarchism is so over, you know, kind of got ran over by evolution.

# January 4, 2010 at 06:37

S says:

I would accept the cell is just for the story as I really cannot see the ralation with UN. Is UN pharmarcy?
However the void space looks interesting and the yellow stairs is also nice.

# October 12, 2009 at 21:24

temple says:

Akuenno :)

# October 13, 2009 at 05:10

nonono says:

I like the stair that integrate with hexagonal shapes.

# October 13, 2009 at 09:50

Tee says:

I wish architects stop doing these Voronoi once in a while. They are beautiful and interesting. But over used. I don’t know.

# October 14, 2009 at 02:27

Somchai says:

I think Voronoi and Honeycomb Architecture is not only practical, and feasible, but nostalgic and cutting edge at the same time. Voronoi diagrams were considered as early at 1644 by René Descartes. Now, Voronoi designs are considered very modern. In addition, “Honeycomb architecture is an innovative architectural system formed by a hexangular tube construction”. — HONEYCOMB DYNAMICS ARCHITECTURE…

The use of Voronoi diagrams are found in widespread applications in areas such as computer graphics, epidemiology, geophysics, and meteorology. This ties in well with how each member of the United Nations comes from various regions across the globe.

With the proper use of color, design, and materials, I think this way of thinking can be perfect for everyone: from the classroom settings, all the way to formal settings where World Leaders congregate.

# October 14, 2009 at 03:31

Sungjin says: