The first zero-energy museum in South Korea

Design plans include multiple solar panel arrays over the parking-lot seating areas and additional south-facing solar panels

Spotted:  The Dutch architecture studio United Networks Studio and South Korean design firm DA Group have been selected to design the new Chungnam Art Museum in Naepo, South Korea.  The museum will feature artworks and exhibitions to provide an immersive cultural experience for the public to engage with. 

“Art has the power to bring people together. It inspires, it teaches, and it fosters communities. The Chungnam Art Museum will be a place for people to experience this and much more,” UNStudio co-founder Ben van Berkel said. 

The duo looked at new ways in which the museum could share stories about art and design, both physically and digitally, describing it as a “smart art museum”. 

The museum will measure 13,797 sq m (148,509 sq ft), featuring an interior centred around a large lobby area that maximises light through a skylight and lots of surrounding glass.  

When it came to designing architecture that would support greater immersivity, the designers incorporated two big, defining details: a plateaued central courtyard and the Cultural Boulevard. “These two ‘big details’ are crucial for creating communication spaces, as well as to the wayfinding, as they enable people to be guided on a continuous experience of space and art from multiple routes and angles,” said UNStudio. 

The collaborating duo also aims to achieve Zero Net Energy performance. This will be attained through the inclusion of multiple solar panel arrays over the parking-lot seating areas and additional south-facing solar panels on the building’s roof. The maximisation of natural light has also been considered, as well as the collection of rainwater which will be used for cooling. Daylight-controlled LED lighting will ensure that illumination is only used when needed, and automatic vents at the top of the building will cool the interior naturally. Whether sustainable building materials will be used is still unknown.  

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