Before heading to Jeju Island, a bit of searching turned up the fact that there are four works of Itami Jun architecture near the Podo Hotel. Nowhere was there any detailed explanation, just people saying they were worth seeing. I liked the design of the Podo Hotel too, and since they were not far from the hotel, I decided to drop by on the way.
A few hundred metres downhill from the hotel there is a place called Biotopia Town, and the museums are inside it. Biotopia is an upmarket residential estate designed by Itami Jun where you can enjoy nature as it lives and breathes, and there is a guard at the entrance. The general public is not allowed in; only guests staying at the Podo Hotel or people with a reservation at one of the restaurants inside Biotopia can get through. We had arranged it with the hotel in advance so we passed without trouble, though the guard told us we could photograph the museums but not the houses, for privacy reasons. Because Biotopia itself is so hard to get into, we could look around in a wonderfully quiet atmosphere – as if we had rented the whole place?
The ‘Seok’ (Stone) Museum
We went round clockwise, and the first one we came to was the Stone Museum. The image of stone is magnificent. The security-company sticker on the door was a bit of a letdown, though.. I have no photo of it, but the design of the door was distinctive as well.
Inside
The day before we had already had a fantastic architectural experience at Genius Loci, but the Stone Museum blends into nature even more beautifully than that. At this level, there is really no need to go all the way to Naoshima.
The waterway
It was the kind of path Totoro might come walking down.
The Duson (Two Hands) Museum
It stands right next to the Stone Museum. The shape is unusual.
The front
With the Duson Museum I got the feeling that the works displayed inside took priority over the building itself. In a way it may be the building that fits the concept of a museum best.
A photographic work
A work is hanging there that I could not tell was a painting or a photograph. Being able to see a photo of a French forest in the middle of Jeju Island feels somehow surreal.
The ‘Pung’ (Wind) Museum
The Wind Museum is a little further away. It turned out to be a fairly large wooden building.
Garden view
First I have to say that the garden of the Wind Museum is truly magnificent. Even for me, having seen all kinds of Japanese gardens, it was startlingly large and completely at one with nature. On top of that, hardly anyone comes, so we could take our time there. I can say it is the finest garden I have seen in my life.
Garden view
Nature just as it is, and it is already a work of art.
Garden view
My only regret is that the beauty of the garden does not come across well in photos.
The Wind Museum
From the outside I could not really tell what sort of place it was.
Inside
This is what it is like. The wind passes through countless gaps. I thought Tadao Ando’s Genius Loci was excellent too, but the Wind Museum moved me even more than the Art House Project on Naoshima.
The garden
All of this is scenery that is only possible because it is Jeju Island, I think.
The garden
There are so many photos that this continues in part 2.