Wuhan, China
Liu Yichun and Chen Yifeng of Atelier Deshaus present their plans for the Qintai Art Museum, a 41,600-square-meter museum located on the lakeside of Moon Lake in Hanyang District of Wuhan City.
The design of the museum is inspired by its natural surrounding in order to confront the natural atmosphere of the lake in a subtle way.
The museum creates a form of undulating natural terrain facing the lake and conceives the exhibition space underground.
This both takes full advantage of the underground space and reduces the building volume of the surface.
Atelier Deshaus aims to the visual impact on the natural surface of the lake, and thus takes the form of a natural hill, sinking part of the exhibition spaces underground.
With this strategy, the design team makes use of the underground space to minimize the presence of the museum as a mass, its expressive rooftop creating a new landscape.
“The formal treatments on these two directions define the relationship between the building and the site,” says Atelier Deshaus.
People can access the roof via pathways and walk on top of the roofscape.
The pathways give visitors the feeling of moving freely between the contours.
The architects refine the undulating roof with an abstract contour-like stepped terrace. The roof’s risers are covered with a silver metal surface, and the treads are clad in white stones, vegetation, and green plants.
Together with a winding walking path going through the roof, they formed a very experiential landscape.
The studio invited Icelandic–Danish artist Olafur Eliasson to create a light installation, the eight color path, for the roof path, with which, the path’s color changes as people pass by.
“Every morning or dusk, people may gather from all over to the roof, and immerse themselves in a unique artistic atmosphere and landscape,” claims the studio.
“The publicity of the space transcends the museum’s solitary visual image by accommodating people’s activity onto its surface.”
While the rooftop pathways are entirely open to the public, they are also connected to the Moon Lake, as well as the exits of the museum exhibition spaces, the art shop, the café, the space for public education, and the other public spaces.
The pathways create a public space independent from the exhibition spaces of the museum defined in two layers for the whole structure. According to the studio, people’s activities are part of the architectural surface.
“The intervention of art museum redefines the urban space on the south bank of the Moon Lake, and the west side of the museum is reserved for the city square to response the planned Wuhan library in the future,” add the architects.
The public spaces of the museum and the main entrance are placed on this side with a slightly curved facade facing the square to create a sense of enclosure.
The combination of the exhibition hall and the undulating roof offers a unique exhibition space, on the other hand, the contemporary exhibition hall adopts a layout of free-standing exhibition walls instead of a single viewing route.
The contemporary art exhibition hall, modern art exhibition hall, ancient art exhibition hall and special exhibition hall of the museum are independently or successively accessed, which provides a high functional flexibility.
Project: Qintai Art Museum
Architects: Atelier Deshaus
Lead Architects: Liu Yichun and Chen Yifeng
Light Installation: Olafur Eliasson
Photographers: Tian Fangfang
