Rusted Ship Re-Purposed for Art Museum Pavilion

Temp’L pavilion in Seoul, South Korea. (Sugar Salt Pepper/Shinslab Architecture)

While competing in the year’s MoMA Young Architects Program contest, Shinslab Architecture, in collaboration with Seoul’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), decided to look to the past. They flipped an abandoned ship upside down, filled its interior with greenery, and created a remarkable pavilion.

Of course, it was more complicated than that. They first had to saw the hull from the rusted ship (they chose to let its reddish exterior remain). Other steps including giving the interior a coat of white paint and adding a balcony, a spiral staircase, and trees.

Diagram showing the stern of the ship used to create the pavilion (Shinslab Architecture)

(Sugar Salt Pepper/Shinslab Architecture)

Shinslab hopes other are inspired to engage in this highly ambitious approach to recycling: “Any great cultural vestiges can lose their function. In the same way, a material can also lose its original value over time. The fact that the destiny of cultural relics is to be dismantled, should make us reflect upon what we need to consider for future generations.” Read more about the pavilion taking South Korea by storm  here.