Art, in one of its most expressive forms, spills into its surroundings by influencing it in ways that transcend the generic notions of disciplinary boundaries. Art in movement— the concept of dynamic interplay between the arts and its built environment—is the cornerstone of the architectural proposal of the Chungnam Art Centre, the winning and final intervention of the Chungnam Art Precinct in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea.

“The key inspiration for our design comes from movement,” shares Kim Herforth Nielsen, founder and creative director at the Danish architecture firm 3XN GXN, which won the Chungnam Art Center international architecture competition, along with partners SIAPLAN and MDA. “Chungnam Art Center will be a place as vibrant, layered and expressive as the art it will be home to. We are thrilled to have been selected for this project to bring the province of Chungcheongnam-do a place where everyone can experience the arts and also take part in it themselves,” he continues.

The construction of the vibrant hub for the cultural and performing arts is estimated to be completed by 2028/2029.

Balancing a ‘rational concept with an expressive form’, the Chungnam Art Centre captures the essence of movement, becoming a performative act in itself. Inspired by the fluidity in the gestures of how a conductor waves their baton and the arc formed in the air by a dancer’s pointed toe, the centre is an architectural manifestation of art’s intrinsic motion, attesting to 3XN’s design concept of ‘Art in Movement/Art is Movement’.

The arts bring magic and myth to life and allow us to imagine and experience worlds beyond our own. They give form to an unspoken language of expression and movement. The Chungnam Art Center is made in this language… – 3XN GXN

Marking the Danish architecture and design studio’s first project in South Korea, the cultural building is a part of the Chungnam Art Precinct, including the art museum and library that are aligned with the main street, framing natural vistas as it sits in between the Naepo New Town and the Yongbongsan Mountains, with popular hiking trails to the south-west of the site. The centre is oriented and designed with contextual sensitivities in mind, to create links with the natural and the built environment. It is anticipated that as visitors approach the cultural building through an inclined path planted full of trees, the site’s beauty will become an inherent part of the user experience.

One of the most defining features of the drawing board project is its sweeping roof, crowning spatial volumes with multi-directional plains and a reinterpretation of traditional South Korean architectural elements such as curved eaves. The roof's curved design conceals a simple structure: it drapes over the program volumes, folds along a central diagonal axis and is sliced and arced to accommodate the functions below.

Translating the dynamic themes of the building’s architecture into simple forms, the interior design ensures ample space for large public gatherings. The hall’s outer walls are enveloped in scalloped timber cladding, echoing the curves of the roof. The concave spaces created by the cladding serve as entry niches, seating and program spaces along the lobby's periphery. The lobby is kept open and clear, allowing for unobstructed sightlines across itself and to the gardens and plazas outside.

“Performance facilities have a high level of complexity, but it is important that users – whether they are visitors or performers – do not feel this complexity,” says Fred Holt, partner and director, 3XN Australia. The halls, the lobby and the fly tower form a cluster of spaces to accommodate diverse performances while maintaining a cohesive flow of movement. “The floor plans and circulation are clear and straightforward, the halls are designed to the highest acoustic standards and lines of sight and there are spaces throughout the art centre that accommodate both large gatherings and day-to-day support and community functions…It’s a building that expresses movement while reducing its perceived scale,” Holt reiterates.

As a comprehensive ‘destination for creative expression’, the cultural architecture also promises to embody a holistic approach integrating biophilic design and implementing placemaking strategies that utilise the biodiversity around it. By opening the sightlines to the vast mountainous landscape and translating the rhythmic, organic forms of nature to the roof, the building forms direct and abstract relationships with the earth. The curved roof is more than just an aesthetic statement as it houses photovoltaic panels and rainwater harvesting systems, reducing the art centre’s environmental footprint.

Reflecting the vitality and dynamism of the arts, the cultural centre aims to weave a deeper narrative of performance spaces that not only host mediums of artistic expression but also embody it. Encouraging creativity and cultural engagement, the Chungnam Art Centre is set to become a landmark in its region and in the broader architectural discourse of inspiring and uplifting people to bring art to life, reflecting 3XN’s driving creative ethos—“the conviction that architecture should give something back - to people, to communities and to our planet.”