a new landmark for both MoMa and seoul
New York‘s beloved Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) arrives in Seoul with the opening of its first-ever bookstore. Residents and visitors in the Korean city will find the new space in the Dosan Park area of Gangnam, the fast-growing and now-iconic neighborhood south of the Han River.
The bookstore has been opened together with Hyundai Card — the credit card company under Seoul’s Hyundai Motor Group which has partnered with the New York museum for nearly twenty years.
Inside, a selection of over 1,100 volumes across more than 200 titles includes MoMA-published exhibition catalogues and books on art, design, and architecture. Beyond its books, the store displays a curated array of objects from the MoMA Design Store (meanwhile, the flagship Design Store in New York is set to reopen following renovations later this fall).
MoMA opens its first bookstore in Seoul’s Dosan Park district | images courtesy MoMA
design shop and bookstore rendered with contrasting interiors
From the sidewalk, Seoul’s new MoMA Bookstore shows a dramatic contrast between its austere facade and warm-toned interiors beyond. The corrugated white facade, softly illuminated at night, frames a large display window where bright shelving punctuates the orange and yellow spaces. With its graphic logic, the place reads as both retail and gallery, a hint at its design-minded selection.
Inside, the layout unfolds as a series of distinct zones. The main book hall is finished in pale grey with polished concrete floors and floating metal shelves. This way, the colorful covers of MoMA publications become the focal point. The design store in the next room brings a bold shift in atmosphere, where walls and floors rendered in glossy yellow and orange create an immersive glow around the curated objects and apparel.
The threshold between these two rooms is a sharp frame which exaggerates the transition from thoughtful browsing to vibrant retail.
more than 200 titles are displayed with MoMA publications and design objects
a vibrant yellow and orange retail space contrasts the calm, grey main hall
the sharply framed threshold between the two rooms exaggerates their contrasting atmospheres
the project reflects nearly twenty years of collaboration between Hyundai Card and MoMA
project info:
name: MoMA Bookstore Seoul
collaborator: Hyundai Card
address: 8-10 Dosan-daero 45-gil Gangnam District, Seoul South Korea
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