Beauty and Symbolism in the Architecture of the Lee Ungno Museum
Explore the story behind the museum, inspired by the artist Lee Ungno
By Lee Ungno Museum
Lee Ungno Mueseum, Laurent Beaudouin, ARCHFRAME.NET, Chance Lab
Composition (1972) by Lee UngnoLee Ungno Museum
Lee Ungno once said, “Chinese letter itself is the foundation of Asian abstract art”. In this painting, Lee Ungno deconstructed the Chinese letter, ‘壽’, and reconstructed it to create his own abstract expression.
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
Beaudouin transformed the letter “壽” featured in the painting into a structure to architecturally symbolize Lee’s Abstract Letter paintings.
Lee Ungno Museum Drone (2019) by Lee Ungno Museum, Chance lab(Jeong Chan-young)Lee Ungno Museum
“An art museum should be designed in such a way that...
... it can better highlight the works it exhibits and, at the same time, is a work of fine art itself. I am confident that this museum building can truthfully reflect the world of art created by Lee Ungno.”- Laurent Beaudouin
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
Laurent Beaudouin, who designed the Lee Ungno Museum, was born in 1955 in the French city of Nancy, and graduated from the Nancy School of Architecture before studying at the Cooper Union College in New York. He currently runs an architectural design business from his home city of Nancy, and teaches architectural design at Ecole Nationale Superieur d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville.
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
His designs, well known in the form of the Library of Université Besançon Franche-Comté and the Museum of Fine-Arts of Nancy, are widely praised for their understated architectural beauty. The Lee Ungno Museum is the only work Beaudouin has designed in Asia.
Concept 1: symbol
The building symbolizes the art of Lee Ungno, showing his painting in its construction.
The process
Idea sketch for the Lee Ungno Museum by Laurent Beaudouin
Idea sketch 2 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
Idea sketch 3 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
It architecturally symbolizes Lee Ungno’s Letter Abstract paintings, which attempted the transformation of a letter into a structure.
Concept 2: wall and garden
The wall and garden are the main elements in building a traditional house.
Idea sketch 5 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
Idea sketch 6 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
The Museum adopted the ideas of a wall and garden in its exhibiting space and related other spaces.
Idea sketch 7 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
Concept 3: stroll
The Museum’s indoor and outdoor spaces are variously connected so that visitors can enjoy our exhibitions and spaces as if taking a stroll.
Idea sketch 9 (2004/2005) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
Concept 4: nature
The Museum has a surrounding of a natural park as its site was originally intended to be a natural park.
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
Placing the Museum here increases the distinctiveness of the site.
In progress 1 (2006-12-18) by Laurent BeaudouinLee Ungno Museum
Architect’s feedback
1. Do not express them in English. Rather, find examples of Lee Ungno’s calligraphy and design them in Hangeul.
2. The overall scale/size is OK.
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Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
“The reconstruction of a letter after deconstructing it, and its two-dimensional development, as it appeared in Goam’s Letter Abstract paintings, means that the strokes, which form a letter, are transformed into elements for a structure...
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
...Such an abstracted letter attempts a simple symbolization...
Lee Ungno MuseumLee Ungno Museum
... The symbolic quality of his Letter Abstract was what Lee Ungno discovered in tradition, and revived through his unique structure.” - Kim Yong-dae, Philosophy of Survival, Goam, Lee Ungno: his life and art (2000).
