Seosomun Shrine History Museum
Interkerd Architects + VOID Architects + Less Architects · Seoul, South Korea · 2019
Seosomun Shrine History Museum is largely embedded below a public park, creating a memorial sequence through descending courts, dark exhibition spaces and carefully controlled daylight. The architecture addresses the site’s history as a place of execution and Catholic martyrdom without relying on conventional monumental imagery. Large concrete voids and a sunken courtyard establish moments of silence and orientation beneath the city. Completed in 2019 by a collaboration of Korean practices, the museum is a strong example of contemporary memorial architecture using section, absence and material restraint to shape historical experience.