Project by JIN GYUNG CHOI
The Museum of Absence is an architectural project located on Washington Street in Lower Manhattan, a site where the Little Syria community was erased through redevelopment. Rather than treating the site as an empty lot, the project understands it as a deliberate historical void—a space shaped by erased memories. The museum reframes absence not as emptiness, but as an active force that continues to define the city.
The exhibition unfolds vertically, moving from factual records to immersive and performative experiences. Lower levels present archival materials such as newspapers, maps, and interviews, establishing historical reality. As visitors ascend, fragmented records transform into light, sound, and panoramic scenes, gradually reconstructing collective memory. At the highest level, memory becomes a lived event through performance, voice, and movement.
Architecturally, a new diagrid tower is inserted within preserved historic facades, using large voids and structural contrasts to heighten tension between old and new. Ultimately, the museum operates as an architectural machine that reactivates erased histories through spatial and sensory experience.
