International Design Competition for National Design Museum, 2021

The administrative city, Sejong, is planning to develop the Museum Complex in the Cultural Facility Site (S-1) in Sejong-ri district. Phase 1 of 75,000 m 2 with a total of 5 museums including children’s, urban architecture, design, digital cultural heritage, and national archives are scheduled to be opened sequentially by 2027, and Phase 2 of 115,000 m 2 will be the National Museum of Natural History and the relocation of the National Folk Museum. The National Design Museum is scheduled to open in 2026 with a total project cost of KRW 76.8 billion and will lead designs for the future by exhibiting various designs and history in Korean design.

UA26 Architecture and Conran & Partners jointly participated in the international design competition for the National Design Museum. With harmonious connection with the entire National Museum Complex and adjacent facilities, a variety of spaces to respond to various exhibitions, related archives, exhibitions, education, and research facilities, we presented an architectural design with the organic connection between function and circulation.

Reimagining the Seowon, there pavilions consider their use of thresholds, siting, transparency, and spatial relationships to their natural context. Their Expressed timber structures blur the line between natural and manmade.
Similarly, The museum’s architecture is indivisible from its content - Where traditional korean values are embodied through the use of timber and stone.
Poetry and pragmatism marry seamlessly, to act as a backdrop in showcasing the best in korean design, both past and present.