aluminum pipes bring changing shadows to kengo kuma’s audio museum in seoul

with its hard aluminum shell, the building transitions to the softness of wood indoors, creating a gradual visual shift.

lea zeitoun July 8, 2024 3 min

audeum by kengo kuma completes in seoul

Sited in Seoul/Gangnam, the Audeum (audio museum) by Kengo Kuma goes beyond the traditional concept of museum architecture by offering a unique experience of sound firsthand. More than that, the newly-completed building serves as an instrument that returns humans to a natural state, allowing them to experience the body’s five senses. The Japanese architect translates this vision into a sculptural exterior clad in overlapping aluminum louvers to create changing shadows, echoing the effect of sunlight pooling in a forest. Kuma randomly arranges the pipes to harmonize natural disorder and order, ’emphasizing the beauty of light that changes according to weather, time, and season,’ he says.

audeum kengo kuma designboom — Audeum by Kengo Kuma | image © Namsun Lee

aluminum pipes create changing shadows and lighting

Building on Kengo Kuma’s words, the bright aluminum pipes enveloping the Audeum allow the museum to reveal new expressions according to the seasons, incorporating the random characteristics of the urban environment and nature into the architecture. Meanwhile, the interior of the exhibition rooms uses wood, adopting a detail that the architect refers to as ‘wood drape,’ which differs from typical wood finishes, emphasizing the softness and naturalness of the material. The exterior, with its hard aluminum shell, transitions to the soft material of the wood inside, creating a gradual shift from outdoors to indoors.

The wood finish is designed with acoustics in mind, creating a space that stimulates the human senses and fosters a sense of closeness to nature.  ‘The Audeum (Audio Museum) is a space where you can experience not only visual elements but also sound, light, wind, and fragrance, engaging all the senses. This place, where you can experience a new sensory world, goes beyond a museum, providing a special healing and sensory experience. It is destined to become a symbolic place of the new era,’ concludes Kengo Kuma.