Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art

This is the entrance to Leeum, the Samsung Museum of Art, designed by starchitects Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas. The museum houses 2 separate museums with its own respective tickets at visitors' choice. These make up 2 of the 3 sections of Leeum. The third is the children's education center designed by Koolhaas. The name can be misleading though; while there are some things related to children and education, majority of them are installation works and among them, ironic enough, mature content as well. The ramp leads you down and invites you onto its foyer, the connecting joint between the 3 sections of the buildings. And as you continue onto the ticket booth, at the center of the foyer you'll notice the shower of light that enters through the rotunda staircase Botta designed, roofed with a skylight.

The staircase actually seems more sacred than secular. The light, the Euclidean geometries, virgin white, and seemingly loftiness of the heavy walls resting on 4 pillars. Suiting, Botta's section houses the ancient relic of Korean ceramics and celadon artifacts. Priceless pieces, many of them from royal lineage that were viewed only 1-step shy from the work of heavens' craftmen themselves. I enjoyed looking through each nook and corner. Leeum was my first encounter with Botta's works. I've seen Botta's works through many books and pictures and I've imagined something much more grandiose and upscale. But the staircase itself is fairly narrow and intimate as the walls close in more and more as you descend. The window slits are fairly big but more important than its size is its vertical orientation that seem to emphasize and signify the light from above.

The details Botta has put onto this building amazed me. Out of 3 sections by 3 respective architects, I was impressed by Botta the most. I could definitely see Alvar Aalto's influence on Botta. From the wooden paneled ceilings to detailed handrails, his choice of mix in red bricks along with variety of materials, white interiors, and functional spatial organization, I found myself thinking that despite the apparent unique persona of Botta's in his works Aalto must've had a deep impression on Botta.

To be honest, I confess that I know nothing about architecture. My architectural knowledge only goes far as few survey courses and my photography experience at best. And to tell you the truth, I really didn't get Nouvel's section. It made no sense to me. 3 floors of matte black interiors with glass curtains mostly at its basement level with a view of an exterior stone facade that distances from the glass at best 3 meters. On the other hand, Koolhaas's was very intuitive, though I know he could've done a lot better. But Leeum as a whole museum complex, I have hard time grasping just exactly what is going on. There seems to be something very robust. There's a tension and subtlety in dialogue. But whether that's because the 3 are in direct conflict of one another or because it's due to an effect of a new-found compromise and uniformity, I don't know. But I do plan on revisiting when their deck opens so I can get a better view. But moving away from my limited knowledge of architecture, I did enjoy the art collections Leeum had to offer. Personally, it seemed a bit too eclectic but each piece on its own was masterful, to say the least.