Sketches

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Steven Holl Offers Tour of His ‘Art on Water’ in South Korea

With water as the art’s foundation and an abundance of “perfect” light, a new gallery and house in South Korea designed by Steven Holl Architects represents a “mini utopia.”

At least that’s how Holl describes the project in this video recently posted to the firm’s website. See: Conversation with Steven Holl.

Filmed during the opening celebration of the Daeyang Gallery and House, completed in Seoul, Korea, in June, the video recounts the process and idea behind Holl's design concept and offers a walking tour of the space.

Holl says the feeling you get moving through a space is the most important thing when encountering a design.

“Architecture really has to be experienced. You have to walk through it,” he says.

The New York architect designed the copper-clad building to feature a gallery below a shallow pool of water. Three “pavilions” rise above the water, essentially floating on their own reflections; one of which is the home of the owner, according to the project description. 

In the video, Holl says the geometry of the project was inspired by a 1967 musical score by Hungarian-Canadian composer Istvan Anhalt, “Symphony of Modules.”

The video was made by architectural filmmakers Spirit of Space.

An accompanying video, “Daeyang Gallery and House,” explores the project through its light, material and detail, the firm says.

Daeyang Gallery and House, Seoul, South Korea; Steven Holl Architects

Holl was named the 2012 AIA Gold Medal Winner, recognized for his contributions to architecture in both theory and practice. With that recognition, he joined the ranks of such prominent architects as Frank Lloyd Wright (1949), Le Corbusier (1961), Louis Kahn (1971), I.M. Pei (1979), and Fumihiko Maki (2011).

Coverage of Holl’s work in Durability + Design and its predecessor publication, the Journal of Architectural Coatings, includes a story on the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle, Wash.