The new cultural corridor of Sejong city, the proposal for the Sejong National Museum Complex composed with National Archives museum, National Design Museum, National Architecture and City Museum, National Digital Heritage Museum, National Children Museum, with centralized support facilities (Central Operation Center and Central Storehouse) and National History Museum within 190,000sqm. Designed by GEBDESIGN.(Chang Kyu Lee), the project aims to re-interpret elements of the traditional Korean house, we create a new cultural landscape of the present and future. The National Museum Complex thus derives a personality of its own through combining historical legacies with exalting new forms, while also reflecting the sensibilities of the environment.

Geumkang Riverfront Park connects the existing public riverside parks and amenities with the museum complex. The Geum River, flowing south to north along the east side of the museum complex manifests the smooth transition of the madang concept. It connects to the commercial zone and the art center across the Che Creek on the south west end to the Sejong City with the Centeral Park and national arboretum ecosystem on the north east side.
The National Museum Complex site serves as a moment of rest between these two poles. It is thus much like a family room, surrounded by all other rooms of a home. It is a place for gathering, learning, celebration and cultural exchange between all the cultural elements and landmarks of the administrative city. Anchoring the riverfront where the Che Creek intersects the Geum River, it is a collection of Museums, each like a room of a house, with a specific purpose and specific set of activities occurring inside. The museums are nodes in a network.
The museums are connected North to South by a central axis, serving also as the primary entry into the complex. This is an open space corridor above ground and a gathering space for museum storage and collaborative work above ground. It is a place for collective experience, knowledge exchange, and rest that all citizens may participate in.
The National Museum Complex is a courtyard, much like the Madang. It is the courtyard of Sejong City, where administrators, citizens, and international visitors may come and cross paths. In elevation, it is also a continuation of the natural landscapes. Modern museum buildings echo the curved roofs of the Hanok of the past. These forms continue the curves of the mountain ranges in the distance, beyond the river. Thus, even on the scenic scale, there is a sense of harmony and smooth transition between open space for man and open space for nature.

Master Plan Design Concept

With a history of rapid development, the modern architectural landscape of South Korea has lost elements of the socio-cultural and architectural transition between the past and present—a cultural connective threshold. The administrative city, in order to become a true global cultural platform must celebrate the past, as well as, facilitate progress towards the future. Through reinterpreting elements of the traditional Korean house, we create a new cultural landscape of the present and future. The National Museum Complex thus derives a personality of its own through combining historical legacies with exalting new forms, while also reflecting the sensibilities of the environment.

- Cultural Threshold and Storage
The New Museum Complex is a laboratory of dreams and aspirations. The central north south axis reflects existing transportation roads on the site. The central axis will house support programs underground, ranging from Museum storage in the north to a co-working space in the south, culminating in an open square at the waterfront. This gradient from storage to work space represents simultaneously the permanence of archiving the past and the progress of working towards the future. It is the figurative and literal cultural threshold where history is made and recorded, where past and present meet.

- Museum: The Network Platform
The museum complexes serve as platforms of exchange. They represent moments in time when elements of the past and present, and aspirations of the future are put on display for the local and international public to view and admire. The museums serve as nodes in a cultural network and the many rooms within the traditional Korean home surrounding the Madang. They are nodes of a cultural network brought together by the open gathering spaces of the museum complex.

- Artscape: Connecitve Open Space
Sculptural arts along the cultural threshold become portals in between the open spaces of the complex and the museums. They manifest soft transition between spaces with very specfic functions (the museums) and spaces with very fluid and dynamic fuctions (the communal open space for citizens to gather)”

- Outdoor Space: Harmony with Nature
positioning of the house, Hanok, in relation to its surroundings is important, with consideration of topography and seasons. Regional Development and Sustainability. Baesanimsu, an organizing principle translating literally to a river in the front and mountain in the back illustrates the importance of considering the environment in built form. Open space is just as important as the space within. This is both a traditional and forward thinking concept for South Korea. Positioning of the house in relation to its surroundings is important, with consideration of topography and seasons.

Architects: GEBDEISGN., Chang Kyu Lee + ARA Group
Location: Sejong Administrative City, South Korea
Client: National Agency For Administrative City Construction
Program: National Museum Complex (National Archives museum, National Design Museum, National Architecture and City Museum, National Digital Heritage Museum, National Children Museum, with centralized support facilities (Central Operation Center and Central Storehouse) and National History Museum)
Gross Area: 180,339 m² (1,941,152 sf)
Status: Concept
Year: 2016