Transcending cultural boundaries: 10 contemporary art museums in China

Transcending cultural boundaries: 10 contemporary art museums in China

Since the Renaissance period in Europe, the indivisible relationship between art and architecture has long been hotly debated and vividly reflected in many classical books and buildings. With the deep bond that unites art and architecture, designers, artists and architects have actively collaborated and found solutions on how we can house and display art in the form of changing spaces.

This article will present a collection of 10 contemporary art museums in China designed by emerging Chinese architects, with the collective aim of engaging the senses of the public and exploring the combination of visual cultures, materiality and functionality.

Museum of mountain and sea art / gad

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Designed by gad, the Art Museum, located to the west of Kunming City, is an important public building in Cuifeng Ecological Park. Its name “Mountain & Sea” was inspired by its location away from the hustle and bustle of the city and appearing vividly on the mountain, as well as its location at the northern end of the Dianchi Lake system. With excellent landscape resources, designers also try to take into account the view of the city, water bodies and mountain ranges. The art space thus becomes an integral part of the sight and the experience.

Yinchuan Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) / waa

Yinchuan Contemporary Art Museum, designed by waa, located next to the Yellow River, draws inspiration from local topography to give the museum its identity. In an area with no apparent basis for the development of contemporary art culture. It was chosen to embrace the complexity of this site and its rich ecological history. The design emphasized the importance of geological activity in the site’s narrative, allowing for the formation of a site-specific concept and identity. The volumetry of the worked museum responds to the geological forces (loading / erosion of sediments) visible in the abundant sedimentary folds on the facade.

Changjiang Art Museum / Vector Architects

Changjiang Art Museum, designed by Vector Architects, is located in Changjiang Village, northeast of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Like all other Chinese villages, this village was razed in 2016 to provide land for rapid urban development. The spatial context that once inscribed the memory of people’s daily lives was private and fractured. Changjiang Art Museum, as a cultural and shared space, attempts to establish a contemporary response commemorating the traces and atmosphere of human construction that has ever existed on this piece of land.

Limestone Gallery / 3andwich Design

Designed by 3andwich Design / He Wei Studio, the Limestone Gallery is located on the “Haiwei” palisade to the north, from where visitors can see the entire canyon, jagged rocks at the bottom, river, pit and rock center. tourists all in one see. Looking up, visitors can appreciate immense peaks for miles. The total area of ​​the Limestone Gallery is approximately 800 square meters with two floors inside, including the exhibition, conference and service area. The roof is used for sightseeing and the ground floor is designed as an outdoor seating area. Between sunrise and sunset, and among the changing clouds, people will feel the happiness of fairyland.

Longyan Cloud Art Gallery / AAI.LifeWay Studio

Longyan Cloud Art Gallery, designed by AAI.LifeWay studio, is located on the south side of Longyan Zijinshan Sports Park, next to Ziyu Lake. The west side of the building is adjacent to the flowery sea and the golf course, and its north side is surrounded by mountains. From the demonstration area to the west, you can admire the flowery sea side. To the south, you can enjoy the view of the lake. To the north you can admire the mountains. The building has been carefully designed to blend in with the landscape. Distant mountains, flowers, lakes, grassy slopes, mountain breezes, fog and all the elements of the environment and the building all contribute to a unique feeling of the experience of the place.

Fengying · Stone Art Museum / GOA

Located in Chongwu, Fujian Province, the Fengying · Stone Art Museum designed by GOA exhibits the works of national master sculptor Wu Deqiang. It is also a renovation project in a sculpture work factory. The architect integrated three courtyards with different layouts into the building, creating a self-contained world without being isolated from the outside. Considering that the works vary in size, the architect did not use conventional full artificial lighting, but proposed to introduce natural light into the lobby for a better ambience. Large sculptures are usually displayed outdoors and natural light is more likely to create a true exhibition environment, and specially designed artificial spotlights are more suitable for displaying miniature sculptures.

Waterfront Art Gallery / Lacime Architects

The Waterfront Art Gallery designed by Lacime Architects is located on the western shore of Xianghu Lake in Nanchang City. The large-scale block shape of the new town is markedly different from the “natural” structure of the old town. The Fuhe River flowing south of the “Tengwangge Delta” tries to preserve the landscape features of this city and makes the bridge a major part of urban design. The project intends to draw testimonies from the morphological memory of this contemporary city, and remains at the border of the cultural landscape.

Canal Art Museum / officePROJECT

In the officePROJECT Canal Art Museum project, the water system, the raised layer, the air corridor and the flowing people were all designed as an absorbed landscape. Although the volume of the building is small, it is not a self-sufficient closed unit. It is not only part of the park, but also an open window to the park. Meanwhile, because it can be separated from the outside, the orientation of the art museum is a kind of integration of open space and box space from the start, which is the transformation mutual external and internal perspectives. In addition, thanks to the design of low windows in the exhibition hall, the water system between the buildings also becomes the exhibition element in the exhibition hall, blurring the line between the interior and the outside.

Baitasi Hutong Gallery / DNA

Designed by DnA, the Baitasi Hutong gallery serves as a giant white volume, which brings a dynamic magnetism into the typical Hutong fabric and courtyard life. By converting a 2-story cement residential building into a hutong gallery in Baitasi area, the finished structure will host community exhibitions and facilitate artists living and working in Baitasi hutong area, introduce new elements to be incorporated into the local community and will bring a new transformation process in the region. Batasi is the testimony of a strong history and culture. The curves and the white color of the diagram diffuse the image of Bai Ta. The twisted shade structure of plants reflects the lively atmosphere of the Hutong.

Long Museum West Bund / Atelier Deshaus

Designed by Atelier Deshaus, the Long Museum West Bund is located on the bank of the Huangpu River in Xuhui District, Shanghai Municipality, whose site served as a wharf for transporting coal. The flowing exhibition space under the surface rough concrete “umbrella-vault” and the “white box” exhibition space on the underground first floor are connected by downward spiraling ladders. The parallel tension highlighting the space, primordial but realistic, and the art exhibition of the ancient, modern and contemporary periods, presented an exhibition space featuring temporality.