A Vessel to Hold the Life of Itami Jun: ITAMI JUN Museum
photographed by
Kim Yongkwan
materials provided by
ITAMI JUN Museum
edited by
Han Garam
SPACE April 2023 (No. 665)
A Vessel to Hold the Life of Itami Jun: ITAMI JUN Museum
When visited on a warm spring day, the ITAMI JUN Museum could be the home of Itami Jun built in the form of a museum. Walking along the long and low garden wall, which turns to run along the inside of the garden wall, one comes face to face with a wooden door that might be found on the porch of any home. On the glass door beyond this door, the sculpted feature of a dragon, symbolising Itami Jun, has been attached like a door handle. Entering through this door, and into the interior space, the scent of traditional black ink floods the senses, as if one is smelling the unique scent that emanates from the home of a stranger. SPACE met here with Yoo Ehwa (principal, ITM Yoo Ehwa Architects) who has carefully planned these experiences and designed these settings.
Han Garam (Han): Itami Jun left in his will, upon passing in 2011, the instruction: ‘Establish a cultural foundation, memorial hall, and an architectural prize in my name. I leave full responsibility of this to my daughter Yoo Ehwa.’
Yoo Ehwa (Yoo): Actually, there was another line at the end: ‘This wish is one of my own making.’ The family burst out laughing while reading the will, and they comforted me teasingly, as if to say, it will be a long road ahead. While it did feel like a burden, I also felt deep gratitude to my father. He must have written those words because he believed that I would do a good job. I had already been thinking about how we might preserve the memory of Itami Jun, the architect, foremost in my mind the maintenance of my father’s home in Japan as an archival space. I just hadn’t known that the responsibility would become mine alone through the will, and that this would become a key part of the work! (laugh)
Han: Last December, a museum, instead of a memorial hall, opened.
Yoo: While my father had mentioned a memorial hall, to my mind a memorial hall would stand very far apart from the general institutional trend of our times, like a work of taxidermy in reverence to an artist. I thought that, perhaps, what my father wanted was to live on according to the rhythms of our changing times, and so it was decided that we would open a museum. However, as a museum is not a short-term space, it was necessary to adopt a long-term perspective and to consider all the ways in which we would contribute to the public sector as opposed to existing merely as profitable business. As such, I reflected upon our core message for the public, rather than on the fact of building a museum in the memory of my father. I spent almost six to seven years trying to find legitimate grounds and resolve challenges in the creation of such a space.
Han: You said that you had considered the message for the public. What answers did you find? I feel that this might be related to the text introducing the ITAMI JUN Museum which reads as ‘a place in which to discover my originality’.
Yoo: Itami Jun was an architect who remained committed to communicating relevant and timely messages through his work. In one period of his work, the 1980s, we see a time characterized by more elaborate buildings due to the impact of the Japanese bubble economy. Itami Jun was determined not to become part of this trend, and to show, through both his architecture and writing, what people stood to lose through such a design approach. As we find in the keywords, local, primitive, natural, it became possible for the originality of Itami Jun to be established as a result of developing his own philosophy. By the way, originality is a word that my father often mentioned throughout his working life. When he arrived at his fifties, he said that architecture had finally become fun, and at sixty, he said that I finally felt I understood what architecture was, and then in his seventies he said, now I think I understand what my originality is. These words left a big impression on me.
Façade of ITAMI JUN Museum
Han: The Artists’ Village in Jeoji was selected as the place for the background to the museum. It was a site that had become available through the culture and art project competitions of Jeju, but I guess perhaps you applied for it as it appeared to fit your preconceived conditions. What were your first impressions of the site?
Yoo: I thought that the site had to be set within natural surroundings. The local authorities had also recommended a site on the corner of an interchange. While the location would have been great for sales and awareness raising, I personally recommended the present site as I believed that the ITAMI JUN Museum should be set back from the main road. When I first visited the site, a white horse was standing in the wild grass, watching me as if it had been expecting me. While there could have been more to take into account if you had wanted more from architectural or environmental axes, or in terms of the process of determining the directions of the site, site selection was ultimately an extremely spontaneous decision! (laugh)
Han: Watching the video of a white horse in the grass, one comes to understand how this would have been a spontaneous decision, as it makes nature appear ethereal and mysterious. Let’s talk about the architectural design. I heard you were inspired by Itami Jun’s first project, Mother’s House (1971).
Yoo: Many people see elements of the museum as overlapping with Mother’s House, and I respond to this with ‘Perhaps it can be seen that way.’ This remark featured in newspapers at the time. It
seems that many people see overlapping elements between the museum and his other works as I had intended for the space to embody his style in every respect, as a living monument to his architectural
ideology, rather than for it to be seen as my own design work. In fact, when there was no specific site, I had also pondered how to develop the final sketch that my father had made two days before his death. However, upon encountering the site, it was decided that it did not fit the context for this design, and, so, we terminated these plans and began on the design anew.
First, an oval shape was drawn at the centre of the site. When Itami Jun used to design architecture on Jeju, he once remarked, ‘I think I end up naturally sketching ovals perhaps because I am conscious
of how the terrain of Jeju is closer to an oval.’ The oval is a key space which represents Itami Jun in the ITAMI JUN Museum. The first floor of the oval is home to a library with the books and published works of Itami Jun, and the second floor features a permanent exhibition space featuring representative works from Jeju. Featured exhibitions and other facilities were arranged around these central features.
One of the most important elements was to listen to one of my father’s teachings, to attune oneself to the language ‘heard emerging from the terrain and carrying in the Voice of the Wind’. The design was developed in line with the humble architectural ambition to be absorbed into the land and to submit to the wind. In answer to this, we created countless models of building heights and ratios that would be in harmony with Gotjawal Forest and studied them carefully.
There was a period when construction was terminated for eight months, due to the revealed an unexpected layer of rock after groundbreaking. It was a flat kind of rock which is known as bille in the Jeju dialect, and it reveals the strands of lava flow. We terminated this phase of construction after this discovery. We repositioned the design to preserve the integrity of the bille; this was made possible by ensuring the tea lounge would embrace the Gotjawal Forest and the bille, so that classrooms would be arranged by the outside of the largest bille and introduce window walls opening out towards it.
Lobby on the first floor
Permanent exhibition space
Han: With this project having come to a conclusion, as such, the moment I entered the space I felt in some strange way as if had been invited to the house. Beginning at the reception to observing the exhibition, the experience of moving through this space is different to that of other museums.
Yoo: You have clearly understood our intention. Even through our staff, the museum managed guided by the objective that ‘this place is the home of Itami Jun and should welcome its visitors.’ While it would not be possible to accompany each of the visitors who have come to the house and give them a detailed introduction, we also prepared a museum kit to help people understand these spaces and their legacy. The museum kit is composed of three leaflets about how to engage with the exhibition, architecture, and museum, and a list of the books on Itami Jun that can be read in the museum, as well as a pencil inside a pouch. At the reception, the leaflet is used to explain how to interact with and enjoy the spaces and their objects. We are also actively recommending the use of audio guides. This is because one should hope to have the sense of being alone in the space with time to reflect on the surroundings, and that this can be accessed the moment one places the ear phones in their ears, even if there are many guests milling around. We have also placed a limit on the number of people who can enter the museum, to create an environment in which people can contemplate and appreciate the space at their own pace. We determined the appropriate number of guests and visiting times in this small space while opening up the space for free to the residents of Jeju for a month last December. At the moment, we are receiving reservations for up to twenty people per hour for a two hour visit. After being informed at the reception, one can ascend the stairs that wrap around the oval space to the exhibition hall. As it is not a big building, the circulation was set as if to take a longer path around the site. The interplay of natural light that falls from the skylights simultaneously heightens the sensation of being at one with nature and raises a sense of expectation. The narrow width also means that visitors are encouraged to move through one-by-one, even if there are a good number of guests in the building.
Han: The opening exhibition ‘ITAMI JUN: Architect of the Wind’ will be on display on the second floor until the 1st of November 2023. It is composed of a comprehensive survey of his work with early works from the 1970s to his final work in Jeju in the 2000s. I am curious to learn how this exhibition differs from the exhibition at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), ‘ITAMI JUN: Architecture of the Wind’.
Yoo: In the 2014, exhibition was a decided effort to distinguish the different tendencies or approaches by epoch made apparent in Itami Jun’s architecture. When seeing the exhibition come together, I found it to be a bit forced. This exhibition has been organised in chronological order to reflect the ways in which the works intersect with the time of their making, and conclude in the oval space with the Jeju work, rather than categorising the work according to a certain standard. This reveals Itami Jun’s design processes alongside his design philosophy when trying to complete works like PODO Hotel (2001), Three Art Museums Water, Wind and Stone (2006) or Church of Sky (2009) that are also well-known by the general public. Hence, we selected works that would disclose regional values or the materials that impacted Itami Jun’s later life understandings of originality. While it is regrettable that we cannot help but reduce the number of works on show, as the space is smaller than that of the MMCA, we still hoped to be able to open up the diverse dimensions of Itami Jun and his relevance for future practice. He was not only an architect, but also an artist and a collector. As such, we will communicate a public message based on Itami Jun’s ideology by emphasising diverse aspects of his work according to his changing times.
Tea lounge (Voice of the Wind)
Library (Space of Ink)
Han: Visitors can spend time in the tea lounge and library after viewing the exhibition. While the concepts of ‘welcome to our home’ and ‘contemplation’ are very much present, it also feels like a space that does not gloss over the architectural ideology of Itami Jun.
Yoo: The colour of India ink was selected as the main colour on the first floor. The Itami Jun’s ‘India Ink’ series are all ink coloured, including India Ink House (1975), Space of Sumi, Space of Mizu (1997) and Hermitage of Ink (1998). However, even within the same building, each of the India ink colours employ different materials. While those in Japan were using marble and decorative embellishments during the bubble economy epoch, Itami Jun unified the colour of his chosen materials towards darker hues, yet made them emit different ‘tones’ when these materials encountered natural light. It is also possible to experience the diverse tones of ink in the ITAMI JUN Museum, such as basalt, wood and fabric. Also, considering the fact that his spaces of creativity or offices were ink coloured, we decided to name the library, ‘Space of Ink’. We provide note paper in the library, which permits people to express themselves and record items of interest with the pencils included in the museum kit. The natural light that enters through the window walls reflect on the ink-coloured tables, and the space set a level lower than the floor level of the first floor helps create an atmosphere of immersion.
The tea lounge expresses my father’s character. He enjoyed tea and would always prepare the tea himself when there were visitors. To offer a similar experience for the visitors to the ITAMI JUN Museum, we included a ticket that can be exchanged for a cup of tea or a souvenir as part of the entrance fee. We are collaborating with a tea brand called Wooyeonmot in Jeju, to create a signature tea. It is a tea that expresses ‘Voice of the Wind’, the title of a text authored by my father and also the name of the tea lounge.
We also intended that this sense of immersion could further be heightened through the introduction of scent and music. We believe that a sense of space is complete and most memorable when all five senses are captivated at once. From the moment one enters, you noted the scent of having entered somebody’s home, and indeed we spray the signature scent of Itami Jun twice an hour! (laugh) My father’s study always offered a sense of comfort, from the combined scent of ink or books. The scent designer Han Seohyoung realised a scent with this in mind. The piano music heard in the museum was created by Yang Bangean. While Yang Bangean and Itami Jun had never met, I strongly believed that he would have understood my father best. This feeling is mainly informed by the knowledge that both studied Korean tradition and based their work around interpretations of it, despite being Korean immigrants in Japan.
Han: There are spaces on the first floor that are difficult for some visitors to access, such as the classroom, where the Itami Jun Master Class is hosted. These classes are activities run by the ITAMI JUN Architecture & Culture Foundation which have taken place in Seoul for around two years. Can you present to us the objectives and methods behind these educational programmes? What differences can we discern between Seoul and Jeju?
Yoo: Nowadays, it is difficult to encounter soil and stone in city playgrounds, and one must travel far out of the urban centres to come into contact with nature. In these circumstances, what we must recover is ‘becoming close to nature’. This is exactly what the Itami Jun Master Class pursue and can be compared to approaches taken by some architecture schools. The themes behind the Itami Jun Master Class are stone, soil, wood and paper. If we take stone as an example, in Jeju there is basalt rock, Gangwha has Ganhwa stone, Italy has Italian marble—it’s all different. Running the classes, we find ourselves observing the differences between them, and this naturally leads to topological classes that extend across different disciplines. Through this experience, I believe children can gain a different perspective towards nature and their world. Moreover, children who become architects with such insights at an early age will be different from those who do not encounter these ideas. As such, education is one of the most important projects within the foundation, and we are running it with a strong sense of its significance. The target audience for the classes ranges from pre-school children to adolescents. Pre-school classes are already taking place in the ITAMI JUN Museum, and soon classes will be hosted for elementary school children. We are also planning adolescent classes in the vacations. In Jeju, unlike Seoul, we hope to run it as an after-school class. We envisage classes that will help children learn about an architecture that is companion to nature. The plan is that it is based on becoming friends with nature, and held within nature so that they can see the bille grounds from the window walls in the classroom or have outdoor classes on the bille grounds.
Han: Finally, tell us about what is left to be done. For instance, tell us about the architectural prize which is yet to be completed according to your father’s will, and the For Friends which is alluded to on the website of the ITAMI JUN Architecture & Culture Foundation.
Yoo: For Friends was conceived after imagining people drinking tea and relaxing by on the first floor of the current office, as in the Seoul version of the ITAMI JUN Museum’s library. We are thinking about specific ways of acting on this, such as providing a system of reservations for set time blocks. In terms of the architectural prize, we are presently contemplating a form that can embrace many subjects, and one that is also objective and fair. The focus would be on whether the architectural structure is designed in line the architect’s originality based on the tradition and culture of the region in which it is situated. This is the message that Itami Jun often referred to. The fact that the Three Art Museums Water, Wind and Stone or PODO Hotel are all still loved by the public and have become points of reflection despite the passing of time help us believe that the architectural ideology of Itami Jun continues to endure.
View of ITAMI JUN Museum
Yoo Ehwa
Yoo Ehwa is the principal of ITM Yoo Ehwa Architects and the director of the ITAMI JUN Architecture & Culture Foundation. From 2002, when the Itami Jun Architects’ seoul branch was established, until 2011, when Itami Jun passed
away, she worked together with the Itami Jun. She has won numerous architectural awards, including the German Design Award (2019), the iF Design Award (2018, 2016), the Korean Architecture Award, and the JDC Award (2004). She is carrying out various projects such as hotels, resorts, residences, cultural facilities, and business facilities.
