Morphosis unveils Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles
09/08/2019.
[LA] USA
metalocus, ÁNGEL VALDEZ
metalocus, ÁNGEL VALDEZ
Los Angeles architecture firm, Morphosis, has unveiled the design for the Korean American National Museum (KANM), dedicated to the cultural heritage of Koreans living in America, and which is slated to begin construction next year in Los Angeles Koreatown.
The KANM will be built on a city-owned parking lot at the southwest corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, in the city's Koreatown, and focus on preserving, studying and presenting Korean-American culture.
The KANM will be built on a city-owned parking lot at the southwest corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue, in the city's Koreatown, and focus on preserving, studying and presenting Korean-American culture.
Rendering. New Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles by Morphosis. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Rendering. Morphosis has unveiled designs for the new Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Rendering. New Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles by Morphosis. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Rendering. New Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles by Morphosis. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
View of the museum's central courtyard. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Drawing, elevation. New Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles by Morphosis. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Drawing, elevation. New Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles by Morphosis. Image courtesy of Morphosis.
Morphosis designed a tectonic, plant-covered museum, a two-story building is topped by a "displaced landscape" made up of plants native to the Korean peninsula and California, including maple and pine trees and bamboo shrubs.
Described in a project statement as "a piece of Korea grafted onto Los Angeles," the rooftop garden overlooks a courtyard building designed to reference traditional Korean Hanok dwellings, a type of residential architecture designed and sited in relation to its surroundings.
In the cold northern regions of the peninsula, for example, Hanok houses can be square-shaped, an approach that helps to retain heat and block cold winds; The approach has been adopted for the new museum, which is arranged with a series of interconnected galleries, meeting rooms, and offices circling a central open space.
Described in a project statement as "a piece of Korea grafted onto Los Angeles," the rooftop garden overlooks a courtyard building designed to reference traditional Korean Hanok dwellings, a type of residential architecture designed and sited in relation to its surroundings.
In the cold northern regions of the peninsula, for example, Hanok houses can be square-shaped, an approach that helps to retain heat and block cold winds; The approach has been adopted for the new museum, which is arranged with a series of interconnected galleries, meeting rooms, and offices circling a central open space.
"This building will stand as a vital institution for the millions of Korean Americans who have made this country their home, and will beautifully represent the strength and accomplishments of our community"
Jae Min Chang, museum vice-chair.
Project description by Morphosis
The new home for the Korean American National Museum supports the institution’s mission to preserve, study and present Korean American cultural heritage, from the legacy of the first Korean immigrants into the United States to the broad contributions of Korean Americans today and into the future. The design of the building reflects this mission through landscape elements, spatial organization, and architectural forms that symbolize and explore the Korean American experience.
As nature is a perennial, unifying theme of Korean art and culture, we focused on the narrative opportunities of landscape to define the design of the museum. As we did so, we were inspired by Korean American architect Eulho Suh’s concept of ‘displaced memory’ and its embodiment in space: our design is an allegorical migration of the Korean landscape and expression of its contribution to the quintessential American ethnic quilt, with traditional Korean plants intermixed and interplanted among California native flora. As the land is grafted and stitched onto the American soil, it takes the form of contained landscape, which in turn holds the museum space within.
Beneath the allegorical landscape, the museum follows the classic courtyard plan of the traditional Korean Hanok, circling a central open space with a fluid, interconnected ring of galleries, meeting rooms, and offices. The exterior is an abstracted solid concrete edge, with no indication of any scalar elements to further frame the landscape. The design links traditional architectural symbology with significant architectural components: the museum’s exterior wall is embossed with a pattern that has protected the royal palaces, and its interiors defined by a sculptural ceiling-scape evoking the vaulted ceiling of a Hanok.
The site anchors a prominent corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles' Koreatown; the design acknowledges this intersection by establishing the museum’s entry at the corner. By disengaging from the Cartesian direction of the city blocks, the new orientation signifies the autonomy of the displaced landscape and begins a more dynamic centrifugal experience that culminates in a dramatic triple-height gallery. This non-Cartesian gallery is composed of two intersecting volumes, further referencing the continuing duality of our existence: Korea and America, past and future, and the state of current Korea. The gallery’s form is geared toward an immersive digital experience that will propel this museum’s curatorial mission deep into the 21st century.
More information
Architects
Morphosis Team. Design Director.- Thom Mayne. Principal.- Eui-Sung Yi. Project Manager.- Sung Lim. Project Architect.- Paul Choi
Project Team
Project Team.- Janice Kim. Advanced Technology.- Stan Su. Project Assistant.-
Tony Avila, Lauren Buntemeyer, Fredy Gomez, Ilko Iliev, Eric Meyer, Nicole Meyer, Anthony Mull, Danny Ortega, Daniel Pruske, Yasmine Suleiman. Visualization.- Jasmine Park.
Collaborators
Landscape.- DSK Landscape Architects. Structural Engineer.- John A. Martin & Associates. Civil Engineer.- KPFF. MEP Engineer.- REX Engineering Group. Lighting.- BuroHappold. Audiovisual/IT Consultant.- BuroHappold. Cost Estimator.- The Capital Projects Group.
Dates
Design.- 2019 - 2020. Construction.- 2020 - 2022.
THOM MAYNE
Thom Mayne.- (b. January 19, 1944, in Waterbury, Connecticut) is a Los Angeles-based architect. Educated at University of Southern California (1969) and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in 1972, where he is a trustee. Since then he has held teaching positions at SCI-Arc, the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is principal of Morphosis, an architectural firm in Santa Monica, California. Mayne received the Pritzker Architecture Prize in March 2005.
