Mimesis Museum by Alvaro Siza

Mimesis museum by a well-known Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza is located in South Korea and reminds of a cat in many ways. The initial inspiration was a story about an emperor who loved cats so much that he called upon the most famous painter to draw him a cat, he got to wait seven years to see the drawing, but that is already another story. An interesting fact is that architect Alvaro Siza has never seen a Korean cat because he has never been to Korea. The ground-floor of Mimesis is a cat, curled up and straighten up at the same time that stretches and yawns.

 

It is all there. The author took various cat postures as an inspiration and wanted to find the most elegant solution for the building. Draft design, models, drawings and adjustments, new models, presentations and so on. That was the chain of events that preceeded the construction. The project was unique and drew attention at the first sight. In the basement, there are archives, service area and other possible exhibition space. Ground floor features space for arriving and distribution, space for temporary exhibitions and a coffee place with a restaurant. Everything else can be found in landings topped off by a large exhibition space in the highest one. Light is always light and gentle so that it does not bother. Both the artificial and sun lights are considered crucial.