EXPO 2010 Shanghai - South Korean Pavilion
Runtime: 2 min.
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The Korean Pavilion is the highlight on the north side of the Expo Axis. The rectangular building massing fills the entire 6000 m2 plot. The facade surfaces along the site line circumscribe the pavilion like a white paper wrapper. Recalling a factory hall, the entire building massing is raised seven metres above the ground: this move creates one of the largest covered spaces on the Expo grounds. The flooring is an abstracted, pixellated map of Seoul at the scale 1:300; its topography is used as a stage from which visitors waiting to enter the pavilion can be entertained. According to the architect Minsuk Cho, »Korea is a peninsula. For ages our country has been permeated by China’s land-based culture and Japan’s sea-based culture.« The architect also points out that the pavilion unites two separate elements: signs and space. The characters of the Korean Hangeul alphabet are transformed into three-dimensional structures consisting of shapes and voids reaching more than 20 metres in height. Here the Hangeul characters, as »alphabet pixels«, are cut out of the aluminium composite board hung from the building frame and protrude vertically from the facade. The 45 ? 45 cm vertical surfaces embellished with colourful »art pixels« are the work of the artist Ik-Joong Kang. When the Expo is over, they are to be signed and sold as artwork.
Architects: Mass Studies in cooperation with the artist Ik-Joong Kang
Camera: Frank Kaltenbach
Editing: Peter Popp
Gallery