Hyundai Card Design Library

Hyundai Card Design Library, founded in the vicinity of Gyeongbok Palace and Bukchon hanok village, offering access to over 11,000 books chosen by an international team of curators and critics. Websited : library.hyundaicard

Located in Gahoe-dong, Jongno-gu, an area once home to Seoul's scholars and noble classes, the library was designed by architect Choi Wook of Seoul studio One o One. A combination of contemporary style of Bauhaus and urban style, the design library display some 11,500 design-related books that have been published at home and abroad. Alongside the book collection, the library contains a cafe and an exhibition space, while on the second floor is an area for reading and discussing ideas around a large steel table. The top floor contains a small attic-like space inspired by a reading room in an old Korean palace where princes could concentrate quietly on their studies.

While most libraries are open to the general public or to academic communities, this library can only be accessed by the company's credit cardholders and their guests, and then a maximum of eight times each month. The firm also hopes the initiative will appeal to a cultured group of potential customers: "It makes people feel that if you have a Hyundai Card, you get access to an enriched lifestyle," says a spokeswoman.