UNStudio & DA group win with sustainable & immersive design

Tenderstream member UNStudio, in collaboration with DA Group, has won the contest for Chungnam Art Museum in South Korea. In an online jury deliberation, the six initial proposals by UNStudio, Snohetta, Grafton, SsD+ALA and Tenderstream members BIG and Steven Holl were first whittled down to three, then two finalists, before result was finally announced. The winning consortium comprises design partners UNStudio and DA Group, Squint/Opera for digital content and exhibition design, Loos van Vliet for landscape design and UNSense for community content.

The winning design was created around the principle of a fully immersive cultural and social experience for the whole community, while taking into account the aim to establish a building that will be one of the first Zero-Energy museums in South Korea. The designers explored new ways in which smart museums can share stories about art and design – both physically and digitally, with the architecture supporting these possibilities. 

To this end, the museum is defined by a plateaued central courtyard and Cultural Boulevard which enable visitors to be guided on a continuous experience of art from multiple routes and angles. The Cultural Boulevard is the central wayfinding element, as it combines the outside with the inside and provides links throughout the site, seamlessly blending art, culture and commerce. From outside, the Boulevard connects the cultural plots with one another, and weaves the main access routes through the building and into the central courtyard. From here, plateaus reach into the courtyard, offering multiple views of the space.

The museum is designed as a place of inspiration, participation and contribution – to both art and the community. Ben van Berkel stated: “Art has the power to bring people together. It inspires, it teaches and it fosters communities. The Chungnam Art Museum will be a place for people to experience this…and much more.”

Lucy Nordberg
TenderStream Head of Research

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