Seoul Searching
The new Louis Vuitton store in the South Korean capital is the brainchild of two world-renowned architects—frank Gehry, who designed the curvy glass exterior, and Peter Marino, who worked his magic on the interiors. Marino gives Tatler a tour
Architect Peter Marino gives Tatler a tour of the new Louis Vuitton store in Seoul, which he worked on with Frank Gehry
How did you approach this building? The interior spaces were designed with a Miesian rigour to more strongly emphasise the billowing, energetic and sculptural quality of Gehry’s exterior. The interior stone flows in from the exterior. The dynamism of the rectangular volumes cleanly contrasts with the baroque glass shields of the building.
The Maison Louis Vuitton Seoul includes many different areas devoted to different products, and an upper floor designed as an Espace Louis Vuitton for exhibitions. How did you create distinctive looks for these areas? There are so many different categories of merchandise now. The trick is to integrate them, so the client does not necessarily focus on differentiation but rather the total brand.
In Seoul, people tend to shop with family or friends, so creating flexible spaces and lounge spaces is extremely important. In a store like this, the experience of shopping must be out of the ordinary. Being able to pause and relax is one of those amenities that Louis Vuitton puts forth for its clients everywhere in the world.
How did you choose the materials for this project? As always, artworks are also an essential part of your concept. Can you explain a little about these choices? We took the outside, inside. Using Frank Gehry’s limestone, we paved the interior spaces with it—almost every interior surface is stone.
The artworks are primarily bright fields of colour strategically placed throughout the store—you can see this with works by Mark Hagen, Marcello Lo Giudice, Brendan Smith, Luigi Mainolfi, Martin Kline, Harmony Hammond, Bernard Aubertin and Anselm Reyle. Art needs its own breathing space and is not meant to compete with merchandise, so I never place it alongside the product. It
may float above or—as in the case of sculpture—occupy its own zone, but it is meant to be appreciated in its own context.
The building itself has a clear connection with the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. How did you try to create a link to the Fondation through the store’s interiors? I think the connection is [the statement] that this company supports the arts to the fullest—and that is significant. We followed the same philosophy that art must be the highest quality.
Frank Gehry’s design was influenced by Korean architecture. Did you take any inspiration from Korean culture—whether traditional or contemporary—for the interiors? What I find special about the city is that you have mountains in the background, which are romantic and beautiful. Urban Seoul itself is a complex metropolis and a mix of styles and building types, nestled together. To react to what can be a visually overwhelming built environment, we opted to carve out boldly simple polished stone spaces for the store’s interior. We brought an elegance and calmness to these spaces with a distilled materials palette.
“In a store like this, the experience of shopping must be out of the ordinary”