To discover Hashima Island

Abstract

From 1916 to 1945, Japanese governments recruited Korean laborers from South Korea for coal mining. The laborers ranged from thirteen to nineteen years old-most of them were still middle school or high school students. Hoping to earn money as the government promised, but unaware of the hostility and danger to which they would be exposed, 600 young Korean laborers were sent to an island called Hashima Island. Hashima Island has been desolate since 1974 after its coal resources were depleted. Although the island is no longer in use, the current condition of the architecture of Hashima Island speaks the truth of the history. The perimeter of the island is surrounded by walls; the laborers were never able to escape the hostile situation nor had a chance look at the world outside of the island. The wall is composed of three different layers: pre-cast concrete, rocks, and noise barrier; the wall as a whole is three-meters thick. Although the physical distance between the interior and exterior of the island is only three meters, the historical distance stopped in the thickness of the wall. The wall, which is the most problematic yet potentially useful component of the island, has to be interrupted architecturally in order to re-vitalize the timeline of the Korean laborers. My thesis is to reveal the neglected and hidden histories of Korean forced laborers in Hashima Island through intervention upon the existing walls. By creating an outdoor city museum by transforming the wall, the architecture of the island is re-discovered. The wall is punctured, chiseled, carved, and shaped to create an episodic and linear path along the wall and to be in communication with the surrounding water, mountains, and ultimately the users. The wall allows water to overflow into the site, delineating the lowest topography, and provides access to the underground basement dormitories of the Korean laborers. The wall is no longer a static barricade; it performs as a moving network among the existing materials of the island and the visitors.