The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has nominated Chun Sookhee (co-principal, WISE Architecture) as the public architect in charge of the construction project for the National Architecture and City Museum (hereinafter NACM). Although the public architect system has been quite active - there is about 700 professionals working currently at metropolitan and basic local autonomous regions - this is the first time that this system has been implemented by the central department. Chun is currently the co-principal at WISE Architecture, having also designed The Asan Nanum Foundation Building (2018), Dialogue In The Dark (2014), War and Women's Human Rights Museum (2012), and others. She is currently also working as a member of the Presidential Commission on Architecture Policy, and she will be placed in charge of the review and as advisor to the entire project, including the design of the building and exhibition sections, construction, and management until the museum is finished.
NACM is one of five national museums being built within the National Museum Complex located in the Administrative City of Sejong City, and its total floor area is planned to be 17,050㎡ in scale. The construction work of the museum is being directed by the National Agency for Administrative City Construction, and the preparation work for exhibitions, the opening, and management is being handled by MOLIT. NACM, which is aimed to be opened by Jan. 2025, will be equipped with functions including temporary and permanent exhibitions (permanent collection, special collection, outdoor collection), data collection and management, and research and education. Moreover, the museum will feature an exhibition programme that explores urban and architecture history and introduces future architectural and urban forms.
Ahn Choonghwan (director, MOLIT) noted, ‘with this appointment of a public architect for NACM, it is hoped that the system will encourage participation from private professionals in architectural projects as an approach that will be expanded to central government and other public institutions’.