“Better a visit to a garden than a hundred visits to a museum,”- Ernst Jünger

This statement inspired the project.

The north-south volume of the museum acts as a bridge between the central plaza and a secret garden. The pavilion leads to the garden, which has views of the river and the sky. The garden connects the museum to the ecology of the river. The modest gable roof emphasises the pavilion’s intimate scale.

The approach is to create a multi-layered gathering space rather than a symbolic garden. The garden design emphasises on the inseparable relationship between the outside and the inside of the pavilion. It creates an experience that changes between a static garden and moving around the pavilion’s ground floor. There is a microclimate, a thermal barrier to keep the chilly wind out, and a summer oasis for outdoor parties and events in the garden. Visitors can see the open-to-the-sky patios that make up its spatial identity as they move through dense grassland.

A four-story wooden pavilion connects other museums to a central plaza in the plan for a new museum. The main exhibition spaces are sunken below the ground, allowing most of the ground level for a terrace garden. The museum pavilion references the palace structures in Jongmyo Shrine. The size of the entry points allows people to move more quickly through the pavilion, while slowing them down to engage with the garden. The museum shop and entrance hall are on the ground floor. The top floors also have a library, offices, workshops, and archival research facilities with limited outside views.. The upper gallery has views of the central plaza. The underground museum, a silent witness, grabs light from above. The design allows the garden and the museum to coexist in a symbiotic relationship.

Wood was the best material for achieving the pavilion’s shape, and it also integrated with the garden’s atmosphere. The pavilion’s crisscrossing louvres provide shade and ventilation.