Design proposal for the Statue of Liberty Museum ‘points’ to social injustice in real time

Though plans were approved in November for the $70 million FXFOWLE-designed Statue of Liberty Museum, Archasm recently launched a speculative design competition for the site. Titled “LIBERTY MUSEUM NEW YORK: Freedom to the people,” the timely contest sought proposals that focused on civil and social justice, and ArchDaily now brings us the winning design from EUS+ Architects‘ Jungwoo Ji, Folio‘s Bosuk Hur, and Iowa State University student Suk Lee. The Korean designers were inspired by candlelight marches against social injustice in their home country and created an architectural landscape of water droplet-shaped modules that respond to global issues in real time. When a tweet about “dire events” is sent to the museum, the modules receive an electronic signal and moves to point toward the geographic location mentioned.

The conceptual design is called “Social Justice Media.” As the designers explain, “the more inclined the unit tilts indicates the less human rights and social justice of the area.” But when not responding to a tweet on their projection surface, the modules all point upwards, demonstrating that “the human rights and social justice of the whole world are in good situation.”

To accommodate the landscape, the design team proposes removing a large chunk of Liberty Island to expose the water below.

As shown in the schematics above, stairs from the platform will lead to a secondary raised platform where visitors can enter the modules (though the renderings don’t seem to show any access points), which will function as museum, exhibition, action, and education spaces.

Though the designers don’t mention the water influence in their design, the fact the modules are shaped as droplets and rise between geometric platforms suspended above water, seems to be a nod to the oceans connecting us all globally. They do, however, discuss how their vision of “horizontality, collectiveness, diversity, and landscape,” deliberately contrasts with the Statue of Liberty, “a single, huge vertical monument.” And while the Statue’s torch refers to a shared idea, the hundreds of modules reflect various regions and values.

[Via ArchDaily]

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All renderings © Jung woo Ji + Bosuk Hur + Suk Lee (Ji+Hur+Lee)