An island is a place where water and forest meet, and these two elements blend together without boundaries. However, on Nodeul Island, a forest stands separate from the Han River by an 8-meter concrete wall. The proposal is originated from an attempt to creatively erase the boundaries that separated Maenggong Forest and the Han River. A palette is a board used to mix and combine existing materials or colors to create something new. The Nodeul Aqua Palette combines and blends the preexisting elements of nature on Nodeul Island, such as ‘the water of the Han River’, ‘the forest and trees’, and ‘the sky’, to create an open space with new experiences. The Aqua Palette primarily consists of moving water that raises the Han River water to the level of Maenggong Forest, creating cascading waterfalls, light-transmitting water, flowing water between people, and surfaces that reflect the forest and sky. The collective surface created by the Aqua Palette connects the forest and the river, forming a new waterscape. If the Han River is a large body of water in the distance, the water contained in the palette is closer and smaller. The Aqua Palette covers the edges of the island like a roof and serves as a framework that borrows scenery from the urban landscape.

Nodeul Island has a spatial system divided "east-west" by roads, with architectural facilities mainly located in the western part and the eastern part left vacant with walls and concrete embankments. The pedestrian area on the eastern side is relatively isolated, and there is a problem of the forest being inaccessible. From the perspective of "the Aqua Palette and its underlying space," we propose a new spatial system for Nodeul Island. The underlying space is a space where the island meets the water, creating a natural embankment and horizontally extending it to reduce the physical distance to the northern Han River Park. The upper Aqua Palette starts from Maenggong Forest and extends in a north-south direction, expanding the territoriality of the forest. Walking along the pedestrian path that penetrates the palette allows simultaneous views of the forest and the Han River, and the pedestrian path surrounding Manggong Forest becomes part of the walking experience, providing a new perspective to appreciate the Han River.

As the continuous palettes connect with bridges, a walking experience is created crossing within the Maenggong Forest. While walking, one encounters personalized viewing spaces, reflections of the forest and sky, and various-sized landscape spaces. By installing the Aqua Palette, the isolated forest blocked by walls is expanded, creating diverse outdoor spaces on a human scale. Through this, it aims to bring about a change in the perception of the Han River, which previously felt enormous on Nodeul Island, to a smaller and closer experience. The seasonal changes depicted by the Nodeul Palette and riverside blocks become more dramatically apparent. The blocks stacked on all sides reveal the relationship between the Han River and Nodeul Island with a constantly changing gradient of pixels, becoming the background color of the Nodeul Palette.

Each Aqua Palette consists of independent 1-dimensional column-beam structures. Each unit component is prefabricated as a concrete structure in a factory and assembled on-site. All railing units have the same cross-sectional shape and smoothly connect along the entire perimeter curve. The palettes are installed at a fixed interval of 3 meters, parallel and spaced apart, allowing light to penetrate the underlying space through the gaps between the palettes. Connecting units such as ramps and stairs are placed between two palettes to form pedestrian pathways. Bridges connecting the palettes and the waterfront enable continuous movement of people and the flow of water between the palettes.