During the two month long summer vacation, some students have packed their bag to visit the romantic country of art, culture, fashion and cheese, France. They were not only agog over the grand Eiffel Tower but were also awed as they set their footsteps inside Centre Pompidou, a cultural complex known for its magnificent art and cultural masterpieces located in Beaubourg, Paris. There the students were unexpectedly met with a familiar scene: an exhibition of Dominique Perrault, the architect of the newly constructed Ewha Campus Complex (ECC) was being held from June 11 to September 22.
“I always grumbled about the construction of ECC when I was a freshman, but after seeing the process of the campus center exhibited, I felt very proud of it,” said Choi Ri (Korean Literature, 2) who passed by the exhibition.
The works of Perrault include Mariinskii Teatr, an opera theater located in Saint Petersburg, Russia and the Olympic tennis court in Madrid, Spain to name a few.
“I was impressed that an architect like Perrault, who built many prominent structures, has actually contributed to the construction of a complex for a school campus,” said Choi.
Na Moon hee (Korean Literature, 4) agreed. Na, who was intent on visiting the Centre since she is interested in contemporary art, joined the fray of foreign visitors marveling over the works of the architect.
“Among other works by the architect, ECC was noted as the ‘grand project’ and the most recent. Thus, foreigners seemed interested,” Na said. The foreigners took pictures and paid great attention to the draft and the sketch of the ECC.
“I think the ECC drew more attention from the viewers since it is the only university campus built by Perrault.” Na said.
Taking a few steps back to its construction years, Na recollected that she entered Ewha when the construction was just underway and the construction was always under debate and in some kind of trouble. “But now since it is counted as one of the representative works of the world renown architect, I am happy to be able to make use of the ECC,” Na added.
When Perrault came to Ewha for the dedication ceremony of the campus complex, the architect said, “I hope ECC will become like the legs of a spider so that it can connect all the places of Ewha and be able to spur lucrative communication.” With the exhibition held in his own home country, it seems that he has not only laid the underground bridge inside Ewha but also created an emotional link among Ewha students and foreign spectators.