Framed landscape sequences. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects
02/03/2020.
[Huzhou - Anji] China
metalocus, AGUSTIN GAMARRA
metalocus, AGUSTIN GAMARRA
Between valleys of rice paddies and bamboo forests is the Zhejiang Natural History Museum by David Chipperfield Architects. The building composed of concatenated pavilions, frame a place of important prehistoric discoveries.
Located in Anji County, a new cultural district is established between a surrounding natural park and a central garden, bounded by a landscaped walkway and the ocher red color of the museum buildings, which increases the relationship between pavilions and the Chinese landscape.
Located in Anji County, a new cultural district is established between a surrounding natural park and a central garden, bounded by a landscaped walkway and the ocher red color of the museum buildings, which increases the relationship between pavilions and the Chinese landscape.
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects. Photograph by Simon Menges
Site plan. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Location plan. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Virtual overlapping floor plan. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Virtual overlapping floor plan with section lines. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Floor plan VIP level. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Section AA. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Section BB. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
North elevation. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
East elevation. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
Perspective. Zhejiang Museum of Natural History by David Chipperfield Architects.
The entrance is given through an undulating exterior path that crosses the porch of the first volume of the building and at the same time contains the immediate environment. The sequence of exterior landscapes is transmuted with the density of the interior garden modulated under the same geometric pattern of the buildings.
The museum of 58,000 m², comprises eight interior spaces, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, which adapt to the slope topography of Anji County, through staggered perpendicular trays that communicate the interior of the museum with the landscape of the exterior natural park , until you reach the lagoon located south of the park.
The museum of 58,000 m², comprises eight interior spaces, designed by David Chipperfield Architects, which adapt to the slope topography of Anji County, through staggered perpendicular trays that communicate the interior of the museum with the landscape of the exterior natural park , until you reach the lagoon located south of the park.
Description of project by David Chipperfield Architects
Founded in 1929, the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History is located in Hangzhou and has a collection of over 200,000 specimens covering geology, ecology and palaeontology. The eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang is the site of many important discoveries from the Cretaceous period. A new, second branch of the museum has been established in Anji, in the north of the region, forming the centrepiece of a new cultural district.
The new museum is set on a sloping site in a large natural park surrounded by bamboo forests and overlooking rice fields in the valley below. It comprises a loose infrastructure of spacious exhibition halls, taking into account the large scale of some of the exhibits: Dinosaur fossils and life-size models, large-scale wildlife dioramas, accompanied by multimedia and interactive exhibition elements.
The staggered composition of the eight, single storey, bar-shaped pavilions step down the hillside. They follow the natural topography, minimising the visual impact on the landscape, and frame an open garden. A loggia, or covered walkway, loops around this central space, mediating between the external and internal areas of the museum.
At the northernmost point, an entrance pavilion welcomes visitors and offers views over the central garden and landscape beyond. Located on either side of the garden, each exhibition hall can be accessed directly or in sequence following the stepped loggia. The southernmost pavilion faces out towards a lake at the lowest end of the site.
The solid forms of the pavilions are embedded within the dense landscaping of the central garden and the surrounding parkland. The planting extends onto the green roofs of the building complex which is rendered in red ochre to match the clay earth of the hillside site, reinforcing the relationship between the museum and the landscape.
More information
Architects
David Chipperfield Architects Shanghai. Parnerts.-Mark Randel (Design lead), Libin Chen. Project architects.- Alessandro Milani (Competition), Miguel Angel (Preparation and brief to Developed design), Shen Huiwen (Developed design, Design intent details), Chuxiao Li (Site design supervision).
Project Team
Hans Christian Buhl, Zhexu Du, Tianyuan Fan, Jinghui Hou, Andrew Irvin, Han Li, Huiqun Liu, Jidi Pan, Fengjuan Sun, Nora Wuttke, Liping Xu, Zhixun Zhou. Visualisation.- Andrew Irvin. Competition team.- Zhexu Du, Fengjuan Sun, Nora Wuttke, Liping Xu. Graphics, Visualisation.- Alessandro Milani, Zhexu Du.
Collaborators
Local design institute Zhejiang South Architecture Design Ltd., Hangzhou (Technical design to Construction supervision). Structural engineer.- Ove Arup and Partners Ltd., Shanghai (Concept design); Zhejiang South Architecture Design Ltd., Hangzhou (Developed design to Construction supervision). Services engineer.- Ove Arup and Partners Ltd., Shanghai (Concept design); Zhejiang South Architecture Design Ltd., Hangzhou (Developed design to Construction supervision). Building physics, Acoustics: Zhejiang South Architecture Design Ltd., Hangzhou. Lighting consultant.- Sunlux Lighting Design, Hangzhou. Exhibition planning.- Triad China Ltd., Shanghai. Landscape architect.- Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin (Concept design), Zhejiang South Architecture Design Ltd., Hangzhou (Developed design to Construction supervision).
Client
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History, People’s Government of Anji County.
Dates
Competition.- 2014. Project start.- 2014. Construction start.- 2015. Completion.- 2018. Opening.- 2019.
Area
Gross floor area.- 58,000 m².
Photography
Simon Menges
David Chipperfield
David Chipperfield was born in London in 1953 and studied architecture at the Kingston School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London before working at the practices of Douglas Stephen, Richard Rogers and Norman Foster.
In 1985 he founded David Chipperfield Architects, which today has over 300 staff at its offices in London, Berlin, Milan and Shanghai.
David Chipperfield has taught and held conferences in Europe and the United States and has received honorary degrees from the universities of Kingston and Kent.
He is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and an honorary fellow of both the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Bund Deutscher Architekten (BDA). In 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and in 2010 he received a knighthood for services to architecture in the UK and Germany. In 2011 he received the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture and in 2013 the Praemium Imperiale from the Japan Art Association, while in 2021 he was appointed a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in recognition of a lifetime’s work.
In 2012 he curated the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.
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