Ambiguous Paths, Sensuous Distances: Wonju Art Gallery (Sculpture Gallery) | studio_K_works

SPACE January 2025 (No. 686) 

Kim Kwangsoo principal, studio_K_works × Lee Jongkeun author

Transparent Society – Opacity

Kim Kwangsoo (Kim): Originally, Wonju Art Gallery (Sculpture Gallery) (2022) was conceived as a sculpture gallery, with commissioned works tailored to the space and its surroundings. However, after the gallery was completed, the mayor changed, and the commissioning process was halted. The building was eventually named ‘art gallery’ by the client. The site is located within a large neighbourhood park in Dangu-dong, Wonju-si, surrounded by extensive apartment complexes. When I began designing, I often observed residents walking up and down the park’s hills, circling the area during mornings and evenings. This was in May 2020, during the unfolding of the Coronavirus Disease-19 pandemic. While people were confined indoors, paradoxically, society was accelerating toward hyper-connectivity and becoming increasingly transparent and surveillant. When pandemic restrictions were lifted, even internationally, tools like Google Maps ensured seamless navigation. Opportunities for unanticipated discoveries or experiences became scarce, and the true ‘outside’ seemed inaccessible. It felt as though the unfamiliarity of the external world had been erased. In this environment, I sought to explore the internal more deeply, seeking externality within. This work became a dialogue with Aldo van Eyck’s Sculpture Pavilion (1966).

Lee Jongkeun (Lee): If the Wonju Art Gallery emerged from a societal context that erases unfamiliarity, what physical context recalled the Sculpture Pavilion?

Kim: Its modest size, about 100-pyeong (330m2), and its role as a sculpture gallery brought Aldo van Eyck’s project to mind. He was a modernist architect I greatly admired for his unique approach to transparency, distinct from that of his contemporaries.

Lee: Aldo van Eyck’s designs were distinct from typical modernist architecture. As architecture students, however, we carry memories of numerous architects, not just Aldo van Eyck. Was it primarily the gallery’s scale and purpose that evoked his project?

Kim: Yes. I also enjoy engaging in imagined conversations with architects of the past.

Lee: Aldo van Eyck’s Sculpture Pavilion came from a 1960s context, different from our social and physical context. How did you address these contextual differences?

Kim: The Sculpture Pavilion uses freestanding walls layered over flat terrain. In contrast, the Wonju Art Gallery is situated at the base of a mountain, and mountains hold particular cultural significance in Korea. I also considered the daily movements of local residents navigating the hills. My design sought harmony with the topography and connection between the dynamics of the park with the pathways of the community.

Lee: What elements of Aldo van Eyck’s architecture did you reinterpret? Was it the forms, the spatial dimensions, or both?

Kim: I focused on the sense of opacity and the maze-like quality of alcoves. While Aldo van Eyck layered walls, I used a single continuous wall or line that seamlessly integrated with the roof, creating paths that bifurcate and lead to alcoves. These spaces hold a sense of opacity and depth, where sculptures can be encountered unexpectedly. Unlike Aldo van Eyck’s maze, where exits are visible, I emphasised disorientation and kinetic shape (動勢), aligning flows with the mountain’s topography.

Lee: One of the commonalities between Aldo van Eyck’s project and yours is the intimacy of the spaces. These are not collective viewing spaces but ones that invite solitary engagement. The experience is not about observing an entire space from a distance but about for...