French architecture studio Wilmotte & Associés has released visuals of the Centre Pompidou Hanwha in Seoul, South Korea, which is set to open in June.
Nearing completion in Seoul‘s financial district, the cultural venue will encompass 11,000 square metres and operate as a partner venue to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which is currently undergoing a major renovation.
Paris studio Wilmotte & Associés will house Centre Pompidou Hanwha in the former annexe of the city’s 63 Building skyscraper, which once contained an aquarium.
Wilmotte & Associés has unveiled Centre Pompidou Hanwha in Seoul
Wilmotte & Associés’s design reimagines the existing structure as a “box of light”, with its exterior cloaked with a translucent double-glazed envelope. This will draw natural light in during the day and diffuse light to illuminate the building at night.
The renders reveal a partially-glazed ground level paired with bands of translucent panels, which will be curved to evoke the forms of traditional Korean tiles.
Spread across four levels, the Centre Pompidou Hanwha will accommodate two spacious exhibition galleries, each encompassing 1,500 square metres.
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As part of its collaboration with the Centre Pompidou, one of these galleries will be entirely dedicated to major exhibitions based on the museum’s collection.
Additional programmes will include educational spaces for young visitors.
“Designed as a museum resolutely turned toward the future, Centre Pompidou Hanwha builds on Centre Pompidou’s tradition of innovation and offers a renewed interpretation of its collection in light of the Korean cultural and artistic context,” said the museum.
It will occupy an existing structure reimagined as a “box of light”
The Centre Pompidou Hanwha is set to open on 4 June in celebration of the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and South Korea.
Elsewhere, two other Centre Pompidou outposts are in development. In Brussels, KANAL-Centre Pompidou is expected to reach completion in November, while a partner museum is being designed for Brazil.
Meanwhile, plans for the OMA-designed Centre Pompidou x Jersey City were recently scrapped after years of negotiations.
The major overhaul of the high-tech Centre Pompidou in Paris, led by Moreau Kusunoki and Frida Escobedo Studio, is expected to be completed by 2030.
It will see improvements made to movement and accessibility around the museum, which was designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano and opened in 1977.
The photography is by Wilmotte & Associés.