HEM, designed by Tadao Ando, pursues the philosophy of spatial integration, filled with natural light flowing from the central “sky well” to the exhibition spaces, hybriding geometrical shapes - square and circle.
Tadao Ando challenges the idea of “dynamic geometry” with his smooth concrete walls in the design of HEM. He has designed a volume of four cylinders of different sizes (and of 5,4m height ) overlapping from top to bottom, which is expanded to the outside, creating a sense of tension and rhythm.
Tadao Ando challenges the idea of “dynamic geometry” with his smooth concrete walls in the design of HEM. He has designed a volume of four cylinders of different sizes (and of 5,4m height ) overlapping from top to bottom, which is expanded to the outside, creating a sense of tension and rhythm.
The architect imposes his grammar again: smooth concrete, geometric shapes, covering a more complex reality.
Inside the Japanese architect has designed an atrium with the world’s first and only double-helix staircase that reinterprets from a contemporary perspective, the traditional Chinese architectural principles.
After repeated calculations, the number of steps on each floor is 45, leading to a different size with different shapes in every step throughout the staircase. To make sure the double-helix concrete staircase was done with perfection, HEM searched almost every template processing factory in China, but only one accepted the job because the angle of each template for the staircase is different.
Crescent Garden
Crescent Garden is the front courtyard that leads up to the museum entrance, has a crescent shape, and is surrounding the museum’s main building. The water is used as the main attraction, a pond which also works as a cooling device during summer. The reflection of the building creates a beautiful illusion as if the basement of the building is elevated up to the sky.
Creating mainly circular exhibition spaces, Ando drew inspiration from the waterside pavilions found in Lingnan’s heritage.
Reviving the Greater Bay Area’s art scene with its awaited opening, the HEM museum will be inaugurated by presenting its launch exhibition, “From the Mundane World”, on view on the second to the third floor, and it is curated by independent art curator and critic FENG Boyi along with HU Bin, WANG Xiaosong, LIU Gang, SHAO Shu.
