A Fairly-tale Submarine at Manhattan, NY, Dec. 2021

Architects: Sung Wook Song

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Church and nuclear submarine has quite opposite characteristics. Church is related to utopianism as a religion, but nuclear submarine is connected with heterotopias as most powerful weapon. Besides, religion may stand for peace, but nuclear submarine represents war. Christian prays toward the blue sky but the nuclear submarine runs under the blue sea. However, these heterogeneous pairs can be compatible by symbolic similarities with a fairy-tale scenario. This architectural narrative propose church may turn into submarine inspired by Bernard Tschumi’s quote “Church are turned into night clubs”.

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Scenario Manhattan, NY

Church is a kind of weekend community facility especially on Sunday. During the weekdays, priest and nun live a monastic life in the nuclear submarine. Church is anchored in a harbor for refueling and supplying foodstuffs. Usually, the days are weekends. Priest and nun go shopping at Manhattan on Sunday while New Yorkers who are Christian, go to the submarine for religious service. The service time schedules various depends on each harbor. The submarine church offers the most silent and special monastic service under the Hudson and East river.