New Koolhaas Museum in Seoul

Seoul National University inaugurated its new Museum of Art (MoA) on June 8. The 48,290-squarefoot building, with three stories above ground and three below, was designed by Rem Koolhaas, who was reportedly given esthetic carte blanche by the project's main sponsor, the Samsung Corporation. Encompassing six galleries, an auditorium with Koolhaas's familiar zigzag walkway-seating, a lecture hall, offices and a media lounge, the structure centers around a stairwell atrium reminiscent of the Guggenheim Museum rotunda--but on a smaller scale and with multiple cocked angles rather than a smooth spiral. Though the galleries have hardwood floors and conventional walls, much of the interior space features concrete floors, plywood paneling, and thin wall facings of translucent plastic over fluorescent tubes. The U-glass and steel truss exterior--which follows a steep decline at the rear of the site--resembles a long horizontal box, wider at one end than the other, perched on a concrete pedestal. Other design touches include irregularly shaped windows, undisguised ceiling ductwork and exposed screws on much of the interior cladding.

Directed by SNU professor Hyung-Min Chung, the museum currently has a collection of 237 contemporary works. The opening show, which was drawn exclusively from Korean lenders, included works by 29 Korean and international artists such as Kim Whanki, Nam June Paik, Lee Ufan, Sang Nam Lee, Moon Beom, Morris Louis, Frank Stella, Jorg Immendorff, Anselm Kiefer and Richard Long.

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