The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Yu In Chon, MCST) announced that the newly constructed and opened New York Korea Center Library has won the main award in the Public Interiors category of the Interior Architecture discipline at the prestigious iF Design Award 2025 based in Germany on June 27, 2024.

The iF Design Award is one of the world’s most prestigious design awards, hosted by iF International Forum Design, a globally recognized German design institution with a long-standing history and reputation for public credibility. The iF Design Award is considered one of the top three global design awards alongside Germany’s Red Dot Design Award and the US-based International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). Over 11,000 entries were submitted from 66 countries for this year’s competition, and the winners were evaluated by a panel of 131 international design experts. The awards ceremony is set to take place on April 28 at the Friedrichstadt Palast theater in Berlin, Germany, and the winning designs will also be published in the annual iF Design Award compilations yearbook.

Reinterpreting the naturalism of traditional Korean architecture and hanok in a modern library design

Located on the third floor of the New York Korea Center, the library showcases the unique beauty of Korean design in the global cultural hub that is New York City, with bookshelves inspired by the structural framework architecture and decorative motif of dancheong (decorative coloring) found in hanok. Founding & Creative Director Choi Changhaak of Studio Empathy and Principal Kim Ji-Young of Praxes, who led the design of the library, explained that the intent of their design was to “focus on the communicative role of modern libraries while creating a boundaryless space in a contemporary library setting, while reinterpreting the spatial aesthetics and functional and structural utility inspired by traditional Korean architecture and hanok.”

The Korea Centers serve as a comprehensive (one-stop) hub for the promotion of Korean culture that seamlessly integrates the diverse cultural resources of relevant in-house institutions such as the Korean Cultural Center, Korea Tourism Organization, Korea Creative Content Agency, and the King Sejong Institute. The New York Korea Center opened in 2024 as the sixth and newest Korea Center.

Since its founding in 1979, the New York Korean Cultural Center Library has been a leading Korean library on the U.S. East Coast, holding over 10,000 books, periodicals, and multimedia materials on Korean history, society, and culture. Following its relocation to the Korea Center, the library has garnered attention for the value it offers through its extensive collection as well as for the innovative reinterpretation of traditional Korean architecture and hanok in a modern design.

“Beyond simply relocating to a larger space alongside major public institutions like the Korea Tourism Organization, the New York Korea Center now features a performance hall, exhibition space, and a library,” said Kim Hyun-jun, Acting Deputy Minister of the International Cultural Affairs and Public Relations Office at MCST, who oversees the establishment of Korea Centers around the globe. “By bringing the beauty of Korean design to New York, the Center will continue to play a significant role in elevating Korea’s cultural presence on the global stage.”