Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has designed the Audeum in Gangnam, a chic and modern district of Seoul, one of the first museums dedicated to audio, which goes beyond the traditional museum concept.
For over thirty years, the iconic 70-year-old Japanese architect has been forging new relationships between nature, technology, and humankind. With his firm Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), his buildings, both public and private, always maintain a close connection to natural surroundings, often using wood and stone as materials to create harmony with the environment. An exhibition at the Karuizawa New Art Museum in Nagano, Japan, is showcasing some of his works that explore the theme of landscape until August 31.
But here, we're particularly interested in the Audeum in Seoul, South Korea. This building is one of his most recent constructions, and certainly not the least. This architectural marvel, considered "the world's first audio museum," spans seven levels and just over 11,000 square meters. The various interiors explore visual elements, light, wind, and scent. "It's not just a place to listen to sound; it's also an architectural instrument that returns humans to a natural state, allowing them to experience all five senses ," explains Kengo Kuma's office.
Draped in wood
The structure is composed of 20,000 aluminum tubes that create shifting shadows, reminiscent of the sun's rays falling through a bamboo forest. The design team arranged the tubes randomly. This effect harmonizes both disorder and natural order to better highlight the beauty and power of light as it changes with the climate, weather, time of day, and season.
In the exhibition spaces, Kengo Kuma employs his technique called "wood draping," which differs from typical wood finishes, emphasizing its softness and character. This draping process is not limited to wooden walls. Translucent fabric arches, extending to the ceiling, also diffuse a soft light with their organic, floral forms.
The galleries are thus enhanced by the dark ceilings and the acoustics of the inner shell, while the dark corridors create a dramatic liminal space thanks to the light projections from the facade.
Exterior-interior
From the street, the building's structural appearance seamlessly integrates the random characteristics of both the urban environment and nature into the architecture. The transition is particularly smooth, from the hard aluminum facade to the soft Alaskan cypress wood in the lobby atrium, whose fragrance pleasantly permeates the space. Furthermore, the wood finish is designed with acoustics in mind, creating a space that stimulates all the senses.
Another room, covered in fabric wall coverings, highlights the material's ability to transmute light and sound. Elsewhere, magnificent gramophones greet visitors along a corridor, designed between a wooden wall and large panes of glass. Kengo Kuma thus plays superbly with materials in variations of glass and mirrors. From pristine galleries to darkened spaces, acoustic materials and audiovisual objects reign supreme.
For the Japanese architect, sound plays an essential role in "healing" from daily stress. With the Audeum, he thus challenges the notion of exhibition space, going beyond the curative ambition of the museum to create an experience that is simultaneously sonic and visual, symbolic and sensory.
