Some of the greatest cultural buildings in modern history have been defined by stone, from the travertine tiles of Richard Meier’s Getty Museum to the great carved walls of Snøhetta’s Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The material is loved by architects the world over for its contrasting qualities of solidity and flexibility: its innate permanence is countered by a plethora of options pertaining to color, texture, and form, and no project exploits this great variety better than the Bauzium Sculpture Gallery, completed recently in Gangwon-do, South Korea.
“The land of Korea has its own identity, not like any other place on Earth,” explains Kim Incheurl, Principal Architect at Archium, the firm behind the project. “Geological features are upcoming to architecture. The configuration of the space, as well as in the decision of form and choice of materials, are affected by features of this vernacular. I think it’s reflected in my works.”
Indeed, the main goal for Bauzium Sculpture Gallery was to create architecture completely at one with its context. The building sits in a unique location characterized by dramatic, mountainous terrain and idiosyncratic geology that serves as inspiration for countless creative minds across Korea.
Archium describes the surroundings using appropriately poetic language: “The site beyond the Taebaek Mountains, the spine of the Korean Peninsula, is as different as East and West. The northeasterly wind coming from the Ulsanbawi Rock — and the sea breeze from the East Sea — digs up the entire forest full of pines.”
The museum is conceived as a natural extension of this age-old landscape, but its purpose remains a highly contemporary one – to act as humble host to a permanent collection by client and renowned Korean sculptor Kim Myoung-Sook, together with further pavilions for special exhibitions. This dual desire is embodied by the choice of materials, which included rocks excavated during the construction of a nearby tunnel and a contrasting concrete using fine aggregate.
The finish of the façades amounts to an extraordinary exhibition of architectural courage: smooth concrete is infused with layered shards of granite, threading contemporary elevations with strands of ancient strata. At certain points, the walls that wrap the pavilions and courtyard are composed of such large chunks of rock that they appear more akin to the dry stone walls of agricultural cottages, far removed from a cutting-edge gallery for modern art.
This roughly hewn finish was a calculated choice by Archium, as the architect describes: “The stone is very tough. It is the motive of the design to avoid losing its essence, so we did not polish the granite.”
Geological materiality flows throughout the external spaces of the gallery. Stones are not confined rigidly to the role of structural element; they tumble out from the walls to create a landscape within the external sculpture yard that evokes the rocky slopes of the surrounding landscape.
Water is also a key feature: pools reflect architecture and art throughout the complex. Situated within this environment, the gallery reads as an archeological discovery dug up after thousands of years buried deep within the earth. That this building is only a few months old makes it all the more astounding.
The flexible nature of sculpture — exhibits can stand freely upon the floor rather than being hung on the walls — allowed Archium to create a rough, permeable envelope that is even more closely entwined in the Korean wilderness.
“We can invite the light to soak through the walls, which serve as a window connecting the inside and out,” explains Kim Incheurl. “The gaps can be riddled with a bird’s nest or a hive, and plants will grow [within the walls] by the dirt accumulating. Architecture is a part of nature and can be the device that marks the layers of time.”
As Frank Gehry once said, “Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness.” While it will take years to assess exactly how well this gallery fares in terms of functionality and commercial success, it appears likely to achieve both of Gehry’s aims with a combination of raw materiality and modern eloquence. With this in mind, Bauzium’s place within the pantheon of great cultural institutions is surely set in stone.
