The Rodin Museum Seoul

by Kevin Kennon, Kohn Pederson Fox, Ruth Butler

Kohn Pedersen Fox's jewel-like glass pavilion for the Rodin Museum evolved from the search to create a home for two seminal bronzes, The Gates of Hell and The Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin. The tension created between the two pieces suggests gesture and dance, which architect Kevin Kennon interepreted as a kind of pas de deux between two glass walls. To heighten the experience of the museum as a place of contemplation and spirituality, the space is suffused in light with glass walls and ceilings of varying degrees of translucency. The serene space, far removed from the bustle of the Seoul business district, blurs the difference between West and East, between art and commerce, and between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries.

Hardcover

Published March 1, 2001