FSA



The Nam June Paik museum bridges a valley and connects two hillsides. Making the transition from nature to a manmade environment, visitors approach the building via a pathway from street to woods to open space when reaching the approach ramp. Visitors may also pass under the building to continue through the core of the site to access the sculpture garden and playground as well as the future locations for the media center and artists' residences. Through the woods and from the approach ramp, you encounter the gently curving, multimedia northern façade of the Nam June Paik museum. The main entrance on the first floor permeates this wall and accesses the foyer of the museum. The multi-purpose hall, ticket sales, museum shop and café are located here. A terrace connects to the café extending the interior space to the wooded landscape of the eastern hillside with an open vista through the continuous glass wall façade. The remainder of the first floor is designated as administrative and curatorial offices, and storage space.



To reach the second floor, visitors ascend a ramp that runs along the southern interior video wall. (The museum contains two video walls each running along the long east/west axis of the museum and they are part of the permanent exhibition.) Galleries housing the permanent exhibition and a recreation of Nam June Paik's studio are on this level. The artist-requested space and a portion of the rotating exhibition are included on this floor with accessible space extending outside to the west terrace. The third floor serves largely as a mezzanine level and provides area for rotating exhibition space. From this floor, visitors can look down over the galleries below for a unique perspective on the work.



Two below-grade levels located on the western side of the building provide additional mechanical/electrical space in addition to underground parking space. Mechanical systems will integrate with the structural system of the building by distributing along the length of the building in the deep truss that allows the building to span like a bridge over the open area of the site. The structural system of the roof is a glass enclosure with continuous daylight-control fins that adjust constantly throughout the day and the course of the year, carefully regulating the amount of direct/indirect light that permeates the gallery spaces.



To properly celebrate the life and work of Nam June Paik, the father of video art, the guiding principle for our design revolves around the television. Contemplating the notions of both viewing / being viewed and inside / out, the Nam June Paik Museum will both “broadcast” and receive information. Embracing the modern TV technology, a grid of plasma screens will form the building’s double layered skin of the building’s exterior. This constantly changing, programmable feature creates two large-scale interior/exterior video walls.



The exhibition galleries are designed to allow for flexibility since each piece of Paik's work has unique implications. The open plan accommodates partitions that will create either universal or specific experiential and viewing environments for the art work. The walls of the exhibit galleries are digital surfaces that can display video or record data from the museum: this basic element of architecture becomes enigmatic in its role as backdrop, exhibit, and participant.