Lockhart-Krause Architects imagines the Gateway Museum for Seoul's Namsan Mountain

The Seoul Metropolitan Government launched a call for entries this past March for a Hanyangdoseong On-site Museum at the foot of Namsan Mountain in the city's Hoehyeon Section. Earlier this month, the winning design was revealed.

Sydney-based Lockhart-Krause Architects took part in the open competition with their submission called “Gateway Museum”, a lightweight pavilion that protects Seoul’s historic 3,000-year-old city wall from rain snow and erosion. Envisioned as a transition point between old and new, the design “challenges a museum’s status quo: proposing a building without walls, a colourful array of exhibits projected on the membrane ceiling,” they describe. (If their name sounds familiar, they designed the colorful “Balloon Swing” proposal for the Architectural League's 2015 Folly competition.) 

Lockhart-Krause Architects shared more details about Gateway Museum with Bustler. Check it out below.

“The pavilion acts as a gateway to the excursion trail and N Seoul tower. A new public plaza is added to the carpark,  a clear meeting place to begin the journey along the excursion trail.  The museum entrance opens from this plaza, and compliments and protects the historic wall. A pavilion open to landscape, without large glass façade, doors or walls, highlighting, not blocking the powerful public passage.”

“The long curved pavilion will allow a journey through time, each structural gateway highlighting a historical layer. Supporting this, a digital story will be told on the ceiling of the museum, a colourful and exciting description of history. Visitors will move through the open pavilion, surrounded in landscape, light and smells, gaining information from arched roof above, similar to the Sistine chapel in Rome.”

“Preservation of the sites historical artefacts is of the upmost importance.  The entirety of the freestanding temporary pavilion sits above ground, with large ‘pad’ feet that provide support without digging into the ground. A glass balustrade is proposed around the full perimeter of the historic wall, ensuring security. No earthworks are proposed, with existing topography to remain in its current state.”

“The site is used as a popular daily walkway, many people meet, come and go, and enjoy various activities. The masterplan adds pathways which respect the exclusion zone, but connect people to the historic fountain and shrine, small discoveries along a slow curved pathway. With added trees and vegetation the site will become a green park, the pavilion, open and lite, will contrast with the green plants, a white pavilion floating in the landscape.”

“The design sits on the hill with harmony, a lightweight structure, open to the landscape, floating lightly on the hillside. The translucent membrane roof protects the city wall from rain and snow, but doesn’t dominate, soft & light it complements the solidity of the wall.  The one story structure protects the Namsan skyline, a low and long building curves with the topography and will not be obtrusive to the city view.”

All images and quoted text courtesy of Lockhart-Krause Architects.