Nanping, China
The Architectural Design and Research Institute of Zhejiang University (UAD) has designed a new museum in a spindle-like shape as a way in which to create an “urban living room” in Fujian Province.
The Shunchang Museum is a 10,138-sqm museum located in Shunchang County, Nanping City in Fujian Province in an area surrounded by mountains where Futun Stream passing through.
The museum is sited in a core urban area, with its south side facing Longshan Mountain across a road and overlooking the Monument to People’s Heroes in the distance, and the north side adjoining a waterfront walking trail along Futun Stream.
The plot stretches in an east-west direction, with a limited depth in a south-north direction.
Featuring a spindle-like shape, the museum sits in between mountains and water.
The programs of the project mainly include a museum, an urban planning exhibition center, office rooms, and cultural relics storerooms.
Meanwhile, with consideration of the operation of this venue, the architects engaged in functional planning and positioning and added some extra functions such as an auditorium, a book bar, and a cafe.
As a common county-level museum, Shunchang Museum accommodates no key well-known collections, so the entry point and focus of the architectural design was shifted to let the building integrate into citizens’ daily life and carry the memory and nostalgic sentiments of locals especially those leaving their hometown.
This place embraces the view of mountain and water landscape and evokes a sense of nostalgia.
The aim of the architects is to create an “urban living room,” which blends into the urban setting in an open gesture.
This place is enlivened by skateboarding boys, singing buskers, and dancing groups.
It provides a venue for the citizens’ daily life activities and cultural events, and in turn, is enriched by the citizens.
The “urban living room” as the starting point of the spatial sequence, organized the main entrances of the museum and the urban planning exhibition center, and meanwhile considered the possibility of the independent use of the temporary exhibition hall and the auditorium.
The visiting routes of the museum and the urban planning exhibition center are centered on their comprehensive halls respectively, linking up a complete visiting circulation route.
The museum’s exhibition halls are organized and connected by the comprehensive hall in combination with stairs.
The urban planning exhibition center is centered on the city models area and is designed with a ramp to guide the visiting route.
The connecting space between the museum and the urban planning exhibition center is a cultural & book bar that incorporates display functions.
The ramp spirals upwards and extends to the rooftop terrace, which connects with the riverside walking trail and helps integrate the building’s interior circulation route into the city.
This is a key feature of architectural space organization, which enables people to identify intangible spaces through the tangible internal and external architectural surfaces.
Through a large staircase, the riverside walking path connects and extends to the building’s rooftop, forming an urban terrace that provides a panoramic view of the fascinating scenery of the mountainous county.
To create a completely accessible rooftop, the architects arranged architectural equipment in a reasonable way.
The atrium surrounded by the architecture’s external walls not only satisfies the daylighting demands for office rooms but also meets the ventilation needs of equipment rooms.
External units of the central air-conditioning system are set in appropriate outdoor positions in a concentrated way, which ensures no equipment is installed on the rooftop.
An existing big tree on the site is retained and moved to the center of the “urban living room,” to absorb sunshine and create a visual highlight in the space while enhancing a sense of affinity for the architecture.
The big tree is a symbol of the site’s memory.
While the varying external environment injects new vitality into urban life and the presence of the new architecture enriches the citizens’ activities, the giant tree is a witness that carries stories of the small county both in the past and future.
To maximize the openness of the “urban living room” and introduce natural daylight into the open-air atrium, the building adopts a frame-shear wall structure and is supported by sheer walls on both sides.
Through curved trusses that span 48m, open column-free space on the ground floor is created.
The oval-shaped atrium is the soul of the “urban living room.”
However, the large void may cause incomplete structural space.
To avoid this, the atrium’s east side is pulled up by short trusses, while its west side stretches downwards to connect with the ground floor, subtly realizing the initial design concept.
In order to create a progressive structure, the studio uses glass and specular stainless steel panels.
Triangular specular stainless steel panels with a side length of 1,200mm are applied to the suspended ceiling of the atrium.
Under daylight, the reflective suspended ceiling produces a mottled light and shadow effect, while also generating a distinct contrast with external walls which feature rough natural textures.
In addition to recording the daily activities in the “urban living room,” the mirror-like ceiling also echoes the mountains and water in the surroundings, making people feel like walking into a painting reflected by mirrors.
Granites are applied to the main building body and the walls of the museum’s comprehensive hall.
The minimum thickness is controlled at 40mm, so as to meet the mounting requirements of curtain wall bolts.
All granites were cut manually, hence forming random natural textures and achieving a harmonious and unified effect after being put up on the walls.
Simplistic and clean granite panels clearly outline the building’s curves.
The arbitrary rough wall textures respond to the local mountains, revealing a unique charm between gracefulness and solidness.
The building is fused into local citizens’ life in a friendly and open way, evoking people’s resonance and imagination about traditional cultural space.
Project: Shunchang Museum
Architects: The Architectural Design and Research Institute of Zhejiang University Co., Ltd. (UAD)
Lead Architects: Dong Danshen, Wu Zhenling
Design Team: Zhao Bo, Zhang Jiachen, Yan Hui, and Zhao Lichen
Structural Design: Zhou Jianlu, Nan Jingjing, Pan Jiafu, and Hu Bo
Interior design: Li Jingyuan, Hu Xu, Lu Xiaoling, and Fang Yu
Client: Shunchang Urban Investment and Construction Development Co., Ltd.
Photographers: Zhao Qiang
Drawings: UAD
