Find another jewel in Cheong-dam Dong

In the new Songeun Building for art exhibition designed by Herzog & de Meuron, an inside ramp connects the parking space and walking space. The partly plywood board facade to the Dosan Daero is very tall, with steep angled triangular shape, and two narrow vertical (strict and ornamental at the same time) windows facing the street are totally open to the sunlight.

 

Its difference is not to be in concrete, which is the most common material used in Korean architectural design. It is going to be in how you use the buildings's more than 8000 square-meters total floor area space. The building's floor levels, 11 above ground and 5 under, can be seen to signify the meanings the client, an Art and Cultural Foundation founded in 1989, wants to convey to the public. Its overall shape is already endearing to passers-by as a "slice of cake placed in Cheongdam Dong". The area, widely known as dealers in art and luxurious items, is denser than ever, with zoning regulations tightening the construction permissions in the neighbourhood.

 

The architects behind this work, Herzog & de Mueron, worked round the regulations. They have already secured a Pritzker Award and several other honours. Especially famous of their works is the Barcelona Forum completed in 2004. If you look at its photographs, you will find that the angles are clear, open and well-defined, as the designers intended. Its long, simple, cantiliver-ish exterior calls Songeun Building to mind.

 

In Songeun Building, contrasted with its spiral stairs and spacey 2nd floor exhibition area, pictures could be taken from the above level of the artworks below, where the artworks in the sunken space seen from the above are rendered miniscule.

 

On just one visit, a linear artwork installed on the wooden floor reminds the visitor of steely wire bones, a bird's eye view moving image of a nameless town is woven into the screen, and wooden equipments for exhibitions abound. The encased tree garden is open to the visitors. Here in future exhibitions, Korean contemporary art will act as a "face" as its main themes.