Daeyang Gallery and House has won the 2012 Emirates Glass LEAF Awards, a prestigious international architecture award that recognizes innovative architectural design.

The private art gallery and house won in the category of Mixed-Use Buildings of the Year for its “intriguing combination of commercial and living accommodation on a grand scale,” according to the jury.

The LEAF award is given by the Leading European Architects Forum, which was founded in 2001. 

The gallery, designed by New York-based Steven Holl Architects, led by acclaimed architect Steven Holl, opened in June in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul, and is now being used as a gallery and a private residence.

Inspired by a 1967 sketch for a music score by composer Istvan Anhalt called “Symphony of Modules,” the gallery-house is a composition in sequential movement featuring three pavilions ― one for entry, one for living, and one as event space ― appear to push upward from a continuous gallery level below, according to the Steven Holl Architects.

Visitors arrive through a bamboo garden wall at the entry court and ascend the steps into the entry pavilion. They can see a reflecting pool at eye level and take in all three pavilions floating on their own reflections. The pool is also used to simultaneously separate and connect the pavilions, according to the firm.

“Both levels of the structure were given their own identity through the use of color, form and contrasting materials pristinely detailed,” the jury commented.

The building also effectively and beautifully uses sunlight to liven up the space with the changing light of each season and throughout the day. It maintains stable temperature with geothermal walls.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)