Ⅰ Construction of Samjeong-dong incineration plant

In the early 1990s, along with the construction boom in the new town of Jung-dong, Bucheon, in November 1992, a waste incinerator was constructed in Samjeong-dong, and operation commenced in May 1995. The facility started burning 200 tons of garbage a day in Bucheon.

Ⅱ Dioxin Crisis

Residents living near Samjeong-dong raised questions about the environmental safety of the incinerator, and as a result of a dioxin concentration survey conducted under the direction of the Ministry of Environment in 1997, it was found that more than 20 times the permissible level of dioxin was emitted. Operation was then stopped for 6 months, dust collection facilities were expanded to reduce dioxin and various harmful substances, and an ammonia storage room and air compression room were newly installed.

Ⅲ Shutdown of Incinerator

With the completion of the Daejang-dong Resource Circulation Center in 2000, the Residents' Support Council proposed the integrated operation of the Samjeong-dong incinerator. Accordingly, in 2010, the Daejang-dong Resource Circulation Center was expanded to absorb the role of the Samjeong-dong Incinerator, and the Samjeong-dong incinerator went into an idle state.

Ⅳ Transformation into an Art Space

The Samjeong-dong waste incinerator, which was expected to be demolished by both the government and local residents, experienced a dramatic change in fate in 2014 when it became a part of the ‘Abandoned Industrial Facility Cultural Regeneration Project’ as part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s efforts to support urban regeneration. It was planned to renovate this space into a new culture and art platform while preserving the historicity of the waste incinerator that had been neglected for four years. Under the direction of architect Kim Kwang-soo, the space was arranged based on a movement line that follows the process of importing, storing, incineration, and disposal of garbage along one axis, and it has been reborn as a space where the appearance of a crude factory of the past and the appearance of a sophisticated modern cultural space coexist. Currently operated by the Bucheon Cultural Foundation, Bucheon Art Bunker B39 is located in a buffer zone between residential and industrial areas, and it plays the role of infusing cultural/artistic vitality in the local community with a focus on digital/media art that combines technology and culture and art.

On June 1, 2018, the ‘Samjeong-dong Waste Incineration Plant’ in Bucheon City was reborn as ‘Bucheon Art Bunker B39’, a new complex cultural and art space in the city. Samjeong-dong incinerator with a total site area of 12,663 m2, a total floor area of 8,335 m2, and a building area of 3,417 m2, was a place with small annexed buildings such as an incineration building on the B1 floor and on the 6th floor above ground, a management building on the 2nd floor, and other facilities such as surveying rooms.