TO wonju275 meters above sea level, located on top of a mountain, recently architecture with its small size, it refers to the Pantheon – perhaps the most complex structurally and meaningful building for Western culture and not only. Unprecedented sister city linking South Korean city to Rome was born from a brilliant mind Tadao Andomaster of architecture, designed at the advanced age of 81 Space of Light: there chapel for meditation which completes the project for SAN, a cultural center in the Gangwon Mountains, where “touching the sky entails art.” Completely designed in 2013 by a Japanese craftsman, during the first ten years of his work SUN Museum (literally Space Art Nature) decided to indulge in the latest piece of architecture that will complete the series of pavilions and at the same time open the doors to Youth – a solo exhibition dedicated to the career of Ando, who, after a world tour (including Milan), arrives in Korea and sets a record for the number of visits.
Tadao Ando at his meditation chapel in South Korea.
Chapel on the territory of the SAN Museum
After the inauguration Meditation Hall in 2019, the museum is equipped with a second architecture dedicated to meditation, and if for the previous pavilion Ando created a sphere literally dug into the ground, then for Space in the light the choice fell on pure and rectangular geometric shapes (closer to architectural production). At the entrance to an artificial hill concrete cube partly underground, he speaks the same language that Tadao Ando taught us long ago. With Armani/Silos and Bourse de Commerce, to name two of the latest works, concrete shows its sleek and precious side, becoming the only decoration of a space devoid of any other element. it’s deep cover cut which, like the Pantheon, allows light to come “straight from the sky,” says the architect.
Tadao Ando Pavilion Surrounded by the Mountains of the Gangwon Region
Section in the roof of the Tadao Ando pavilion.
It is impossible not to think of the Japanese example of the Church of Light in Osaka, designed by Ando in 1989 on the same principles: a monolith carved with precision at one point, allowing light to pass through. Whereas in the church the opening was elevated, in the pavilion the light falls from above at the end of a narrow and angular open path that, almost like a prologue to an initiation rite, directs visitors to the heart of the pavilion. . “WITH Space of Light – they say in the Museum – we invite the public to explore the passage of time together with light changeexperiencing the extraordinary vision of Tadao Ando at the exhibition Youth“. With over 150,000 tickets sold in just three months, the Japanese designer’s retrospective was such an unexpected success that it was extended until October 29, 2023, allowing the Korean public to immerse themselves in more than 40 years of architecture that has made history in Japan and outside. Between major contracts and iconic buildings, the head of Kim Kardashian remains open, for whom Ando is designing one. dream House in Malibu.
Space of Light, Tadao Ando Pavilion, designed and built in South Korea.
Tadao Ando and the Meditation Pavilion in the SUN Museum Park
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