The new He Art Museum is made from a series of stacked disks and will have a double helix spiral staircase at its centre, allowing visitors to go up from the ground floor to the fourth in opposite directions simultaneously, capped by an oculus: a physical representation of ancient Chinese cosmology that declares the sky is round and the earth is square.
“I want to create a museum that can synthesize southern China’s rich diverse cultures that stretches many millennia and the influences that birthed Lingnan architecture. I imagined HEM as an energetic central anchor point to all the artistic and regional custom, climate, landscape, and civilization in Lingnan.”
Tadao Ando explains in a statement.
At the ground-floor level, there is a square exhibition space and houses a bookstore, café and a 300-square-meter education area will be open for formal and informal conversation and independent study.
A cylindrical volume with a vertically slatted facade, filled with both regional and international treasures. An inaugural exhibition curated by Feng Boyi, entitled From The Mundane World, will become a gateway for the arts.
On the interior, will be home to the private collection of the He family’s extensive art collection, comprising over 400 artworks and commissions by renowned international and Chinese artists. The Art Museum will also include a Cantonese opera with theatrical face painting and Cantonese cuisine.
A pond next to the HEM will reflect its facade and create a cooling effect in the subtropical climate.
Tadao Ando has recently created an exhibition space in Chicago, and is turning the Paris stock exchange into an art museum.
