Architectural Design Concept

The museum complex is spread out in seven buildings linked via a pedestrian route.

In the first building a ticket office and small bookshop are envisaged. In the second building there will be a multi-medial area, where, through the utilisation of holograms, among others, the archaeological site will be illustrated through its history, excavations and findings. Within this multi-medial zone, three areas will be dedicated to the reconstruction of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer lifeways.

The third, fourth, fifth and sixth buildings will be appointed as permanent exhibition areas dedicated to the archaeological findings. In particular, in the fourth building, the visitors will be able to view the spectacular basalt wall hidden in the ground below at 20 meters of depth, deposited during the Quaternary from Mt Ori volcano in the Pyounggang Plateau in the northern area of region.

The seventh building, the central nucleus of the museum, is set out on seven floors, three above ground and three underground.

The ground and first floors are dedicated to different changing exhibitions, allowing for two exhibitions to be held at the same time, or the utilisation of the first floor as a conference or film room. On the ground floor also a museum shop is envisaged.

The second floor will host an educational area. The third floor envisages a lounge area and self-service cafeteria, from which there will be a panoramic view on the archaeological site.

The first lower level will be occupied by the administrative offices an the curatorial area. The second lower level will be the archive and storage area. The third lower level will be where all the mechanical & electrical equipment will be installed, and lastly, the fourth lower level will be utilised for the unloading of goods and for the museum service vehicles.

Site Environmental Analysis

The project extends along the natural axis which gives access to the national highway n.3 which links Seul, Euijungbu, Dongducheon and Yeoncheon

The visitors reach the museum through a pedestrian route. An internal road is envisaged to serve only the museum transport and staff. A parking is foreseen on the Backside area (A) so as not to disrupt the peace and harmony which the site calls for.

The route represents the starting point of a journey towards a continuous discovery, and its arrival point coincides with the starting point.

The museum has been conceived as a place of depth, revelation and reflection, far away from the noises of the world. Special attention has been given to the spatial quality of the form rather than to the ability to astonish that the complexity of the form may bring. The site can only be reached through a route designed and developed for the museum to be discovered and only glimpsed at, and its full understanding is realized by the visitor during the course of the journey.

The access to the museum takes place through a pedestrian route. The distance dividing the museum from the access to the archeological site and the route along which the museum is built represents not only a way to reach the different exhibition areas, but one of the essential aspects of the project which allows the visitor, step by step, to discover the intimate relationship between space and time which ties the museum to the place and to the heritage which it preserves. The multiplying of routes leading to the various museum areas and the presence of the tombs in the project site, create, in the visitor, a sense of distance and detachment from daily life. In this way, the visitor is freed from a subjective view of reality and is able to participate in a much wider dimension, the subject of which is no more the physical person, but the spirit of the place in its entirety; to live the present in a synthesis without beginning nor end, where to perceive space and the meaning of its values.

Progettazione

•Andrea Balsimelli, Capogruppo

•Alessandro Acquaviva, Progettista

•Massimo Barbera, Progettista

Collaborazioni

•Architetto Alessandro Acquaviva Architetto Massimo Barbera, Gruppo di progettazione