Hyundai Card has established the Hyundai Card DESIGN LIBRARY, the world’s largest library for design-related books and reference material, in Gahoe-dong, central Seoul, the company said on Monday.

Founded in the vicinity of Gyeongbok Palace and Bukchon hanok village, the design library will display some 11,500 design-related books that have been published at home and abroad.

The design reference materials in the library highlight the tides of design that surfaced after the foundation of “Bauhaus,” a world-recognized German school of crafts and fine arts, in 1919. 

The library emulates the contemporary style of Bauhaus, and its minimal, modern taste, Hyundai Card said.

About 70 percent of the books treated in the library are rarely procured across the world, among which about 3,000 books are either out of print or had not been introduced here.

It also put much effort into inviting globally recognized librarians, or “book curators,” the company said.

The library’s rare editions include “DOMUS,” an architecture-design magazine published in 1928 in Italy; an entire collection of “LIFE,” a photo-journalism magazine; and multiple limited editions from globally recognized art book publishers, such as Phaidon and Taschen.

“The library nests in the spot where the core spirit of Korea’s cultural tradition and ‘the beauty of a slow tempo’ is embedded,” a Hyundai Card spokesman said. “The interior design of the library is also inspired from Korea’s traditional study, displayed to stay in harmony with the surrounding objects and the environment.”

Besides embracing the original, functional aspect of a library to deliver information and knowledge, the new library seeks to redefine more extensive value, Hyundai Card said.

“Each of the three stories of the design building is assigned distinctive functions and meanings,” the spokesman said.

“Even the uniforms and furniture are part of the large-scale, sophisticated features of the library.”

The library is open Tuesday through Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. The library is closed on Mondays and national holidays.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)


<관련 한글 기사>


세계 최대규모 도서관 서울에 문 열어

지난 월요일 가회동에 위치한 세계 최대 규모의 디자인 도서관이 문을 열었다.

경복궁과 북촌 한옥마을 사이에 위치한 현대카드 디자인도서관은 약 1만 1천 5백 점의 국내, 해외 디자인 관련 도서를 소장하고 있다. 

도서관의 디자인서적은 1919년 독일 바이마르의 조형학교인 바우하우스가 설립된 이후 일어난 디자인 물결을 주로 다루고 있다. 

약 70퍼센트의 소장도서는 전세계 각지에서 찾아보기 힘든 희귀본이며 그중 3,000권은 절판된 도서이다. 

"도서관은 느림의 미학이 살아 숨쉬는 한국의 전통적인 장소에 위치하고 있습니다. 도서관의 내부 디자인 또한 한국 전통 양식인 자연, 사물과 조화를 이룬 모양에서 따왔습니다" 라고 도서관 관계자는 전했다. 

현대카드 디자인도서관은  화요일부터 토요일까진 오후 1시에서 10시까지 열고 일요일엔 오전 11시에서 6시까지 문을 연다. 월요일과 공휴일은 휴관이다. (코리아헤럴드)