Ecorium, National Institute of Ecology (국립생태원 에코리움)

The National Institute of Ecology (국립생태원) took shape in 2007, when a site at Seocheon in South Chungcheong Province was selected. The master plan and basic design were completed in 2009, the year building work began; the main building and the Ecorium went up between 2010 and 2012, and the great greenhouse and the outdoor areas were finished in December 2012.

The design brought together the Korean firm Samoo Architects & Engineers and the New York studio of Grimshaw, which had been appointed by Samsung Construction. The architectural press reported the building complete in November 2013. The institute, overseen by the Ministry of Environment (now the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment), officially opened on 27 December 2013, with Choi Jae-cheon, appointed that October, as its first director.

Conceived as a hub for ecological research and education, the institute uses the Ecorium as its showcase: in a single walk, visitors encounter habitats from around the world and are introduced to the case for conserving them. Seocheon County now counts the site among its 'nine sights' for tourists.

The Ecorium is a chain of greenhouses with curving plans, modelled on oxbow lakes, the crescent-shaped bodies of water left behind when a meandering river shifts its course; the architects called the sequence 'Nature's Odyssey'. Each enclosure is ribbed with great steel arches that trace the ridgeline and carry a lightweight glazing system. A main arch, horizontal band trusses and sloping vertical trusses make up the megastructure of each volume.

According to the architects, the building has a total floor area of 33,090 m² on two storeys plus a basement; the Korea Tourism Organization gives a figure of about 22,000 m² of space. The design was refined for energy performance through careful orientation, natural ventilation simulations and the collection of rainwater along the sloping curtain walls, reused for cooling and for watering the plants. These measures are said to cut energy consumption by around 10 per cent. Temperature and humidity are fully controlled to maintain each of the climates.

The five greenhouses recreate the world's major climates: tropical, desert, Mediterranean, temperate and polar. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, together they hold some 1,900 plant species and 230 animal species. The tropical house rebuilds, layer by layer, the rainforests of Asia, Central and South America and Africa, with arapaima (pirarucu), Nile crocodiles, amphibians and reptiles. The desert house shows organisms adapted to extreme environments on several continents, among them baobabs.

The Mediterranean house forms the transition to the temperate house, which evokes the ecosystems of the Korean peninsula and its four distinct seasons. The polar section, devoted to the Arctic and Antarctic, is the children's favourite: live penguins swim in its pools, while mounted specimens of reindeer and polar bears complete the display.

The Ecorium stands at the heart of the National Institute of Ecology's large campus in Seocheon. Janghang railway station is a two- or three-minute walk from the site's rear entrance, while the walk from the main entrance to the greenhouse takes about twenty minutes; electric vehicles help older visitors get around.

It is worth setting aside a good part of the day to work through the five climates and then the institute's gardens and exhibition halls. The tourism office recommends spring, and May in particular. Seocheon County presents the institute together with the National Marine Biodiversity Institute of Korea, which can be combined in the same trip.