Friday, April 23, 2010

Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum by KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten


The design for the museum was developed with many references to the historic urban environment that surrounds the site. Two u-shaped blocks interlock and refer to the geometry of the surrounding streets.
Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum
Design Team: KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten, Nanjing Kingdom Architecture Design Co.
Location: Nanjing, China
Status: Completion Jan 2010

Located in the cultural center of Nanjing and in the immediate proximity of the historical Presidential Palace of today's provincial capital, the new Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum is one of the most important museums in south-east China. It has space for temporary exhibitions and houses a permanent collection featuring traditional Chinese art. The museum takes up several urban references from its deeply historical location. The main entrance faces the main city square, Daxing Gong Shi Min Square. In addition, the two structures of the Museum that stand at slight angles to one another follow the two flanking thoroughfares: Zhongshan (or Revolution) Road, and Changjiang (or Culture) Road.




The space between the two blocks is a 17-metre-high open plaza inside the building, only covered by a light glass roof. The bright core of the building is surrounded by the massive presence of the two parts containing the museum rooms. One part contains display rooms of different sizes. In the second part, connected by two bridges spanning the glass-covered inner space, the 400 seat auditorium, the training, VIP, conference and office spaces are located. The museum houses a permanent collection of more than 10.000 art works and has additional space for temporary exhibitions.

The travertine natural stone facing with its narrow window indentations obscures the sheer number of storeys and as such reinforces the overall monolithic impression of the museum building. Simultaneously, the alternation between vertical stone panels and window slits with sheet metal jutting out at the sides creates rhythm in the facade.






via KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten

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