Mimesis Museum

Alvaro Siza Vieira – Paju Book city, South Korea, 2006-2010

The museum is a concrete building with a sinuous two-winged plan that curves around a courtyard.
Álvaro Siza's Mimesis Museum in South Korea is a modern art gallery for a publisher of art books and collectors.
"In general it is very closed, most of the light comes from the roof," says Siza.
The context is that of the new city of Paju Book, 30 km from Seoul.
Paju Book City was originally planned by Florian Beigel and the Architectural Research Unit in 1999, a city dedicated to the publishing industry and over time became an architectural showcase.
"I didn't have all the context that I wanted and with which I could create a dialogue, I only had a general plan of the site, so I had to concentrate on creating an atmosphere for the building," says Siza, referring to the problem of building in a new city where your neighbors have not yet been designed.
This may partly explain the inner character of the building, but how did Siza determine the shape? "I wanted a kind of courtyard, but I didn't want to make a quiet space, so it became a continuous and fluid form.