With the Audeum in Gangnam, Seoul's chic modern district, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma has created one of the first museums dedicated to audio, going 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 human beings. With his firm Kengo Kuma & Associates (KKAA), his buildings, whether public or private, always remain close to natural environments, often using wood and stone as materials for harmony with the environment. Until August 31, an exhibition at the Karuizawa New Art Museum in Nagano, Japan, features some of his works that explore the theme of landscape.
But here, we're particularly interested in the Audeum in Seoul, South Korea. This building is one of his most recent constructions. And not the least. Considered "the world's first audio museum", the architecture spans seven levels and just over 11,000 square meters. The various interiors experiment with visual elements, light, wind and fragrance. "It's not just a place to listen to sound, it's also an architectural instrument that brings humans back 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 in a bamboo forest. The design team arranged the pipes randomly. The effect harmonizes both disorder and natural order, highlighting the beauty and power of light, which changes according to climate, weather, time and season.
In the showrooms, Kengo Kuma uses his technique called "wood draping", which differs from the typical finishes of this natural material, emphasizing its softness and character. This draping process is not only dedicated to wooden walls. The translucent fabric arches, which extend up to the ceiling, also diffuse light with their organic, floral form.
The galleries are thus enhanced by the dark ceilings and acoustics of the inner shell, while the dark corridors create a dramatic liminal space thanks to the façade's light projections.
Exterior-interior
From the street, the structural appearance incorporates both the random characteristics of the urban environment and nature into the architecture. The transition is smooth, between the hard aluminum façade and the soft Alaskan cypress in the lobby atrium, whose scent wafts pleasantly through the space. The wood finish is also designed with acoustics in mind, creating a space that stimulates all the human senses.
Another room, covered with fabric wall finishes, highlights the material's ability to transmute light and sound. Elsewhere, magnificent gramophones welcome visitors along a corridor designed between a wooden wall and large glass panes. Kengo Kuma plays superbly with materials in variations of glass and mirrors. From immaculate galleries to dark spaces, acoustic equipment and audiovisual objects are king.
For the Japanese architect, sound plays an essential role in "healing" the stresses of everyday life. With the Audeum, he challenges the notion of the exhibition space, moving beyond the curative ambition of the museum to create an experience that is both sonic and visual, symbolic and sensory.
