During the last quarter of 2021, Herzog & de Meuron completed the construction of three museums: M+ in Hong Kong, 433 MKM Museum Küppersmühle Extension in Duisburg, and 473 SONGEUN Art Space in Seoul. To celebrate this milestone and highlight the projects' varied approaches to the presentation of art as culturally-enriching platforms, the firm has put together a video compilation of all three projects alongside each other, showcasing the different approaches to their contexts and geographical locations, spatial requirements and materiality, and how all three of them share a collective focus to foster the exchange between people and culture.
The extension project of the MKM Museum Küppersmühle began in 2013. Following the site's limiting conditions, a feasibility study was conducted by the architecture form to explore the potential of the location, which resulted in a radical new design. Instead of the original idea of an illuminated cube balanced on the silo towers, the team proposed to construct a building whose dimensions and materials compliment the sequence of historic brick structures lined along the dockside. Visually, the new intervention completes the existing museum and forms a suitable conclusion to the adjacent buildings.
Situated in the heart of Cheongdam Dong, one of the most commercial areas of Seoul, the ST International HQ and SongEun Art Space, Herzog & de Meuron’s first realized project in Korea, offers non-commercial art spaces, a variety of new exhibition spaces, and offices for ST International both above and below ground, creating an inviting space for the public to engage with contemporary art. The monolithic geometric building maintains a strong connection to the local context, culture, and environment of Seoul, while referencing to diverse architectural motifs. The project's architecture is defined by a monumental concrete volume in the form of a triangle with a textured concrete facade made using wooden formwork, in reference to the meaning of SongEun: “Hidden Pine Tree”.
Designed by a global team of the world-renowned architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in partnership with TFP Farrells and Arup, and nearly a decade of construction work and delays, M+ has finally opened its doors to the public in November. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District on the Victoria Harbour waterfront, the project provides a permanent space for M+, the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual culture of the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. In terms of visual identity, the podium and tower are unified as concrete structures clad in ceramic tiles that reflect the surrounding skyline and weather conditions.
