Survey of the Relationship Between Japanese Colonial Fortifications
and Their Natural Surroundings
Anna Pilawska-Sita and Michał Sita, 2024
4th Jeju Biennale, Jeju Museum of Art
26 November 2024 – 16 February 2025
Oreum
In our work we focus on points of contact between architecture and its environment. We study military structures from the period of Japanese colonization of Jeju Island (1910–1945) — bunkers, naval and airplane hangars, and especially the fortifications built deep within volcanic parasitic cones — oreum. These cones, dotted with caves and underground lava channels, define the unique spatial character of Jeju Island. There are several hundred oreums, most of which are isolated and difficult to access. They are densely forested, and from their summits, one can view a network of hills extending all the way to the coastline.
Transformation
The military fortifications built within these volcanic cones take full advantage of the terrain’s natural features, blending into the landscape and becoming an integral part of it. Although the surrounding environment appears largely unchanged, it is reoriented to serve the logic of warfare: the hill is transformed into a fortress, and the forest is reduced to mere camouflage. As a result, the life that flourishes on the oreum becomes as much a part of the military infrastructure as the reinforced concrete walls or underground corridors. A system emerges in which the forest-covered hill and the military structures function together as a unified defense system. Here, the military perspective dominates both the space and the living organisms within it. Ironically, the forest becomes more effective as a military resource the wilder and less accessible it remains.
Green Architecture
One principle of green architecture is to integrate buildings into the surrounding natural environment in a way that highlights the character of the landscape. In this approach, architecture acts as a backdrop, creating conditions for plant life to thrive according to its own needs.
The Japanese fortifications on Jeju Island present a disturbing version of this concept. While the utopian idea of a harmonious coexistence between nature and architecture may be realized in some sense through this colonial project itself, it raises a deeper question: Does “green architecture” also imply a form of subjugation? Is it less about transforming the natural world and more about distorting it? Is it possible to create alternative relationships between architecture and nature, or is such a program inherently tied to colonization?
Autonomy
Can the forest that has overtaken the old, abandoned bunkers still be considered part of the architectural landscape, reflecting its logic? Or should it be viewed as an autonomous entity that, through its very existence, resists any imposed architectural utopia? The true power of a place like the oreum may lie in the fact that it embodies a range of qualities that transcend the frameworks we attempt to apply to it.
Supported by the scholarship of the City of Poznań, Adam Mickiewicz Institute and Foto-gen Gallery.