Liangzhu Culture Museum, China

David Chipperfield Architects completes first projects in China 3 Nov 2008 David Chipperfield Architects has recently completed Ninetree Village and Liangzhu Culture Museum - the practice's first two projects in China. Liangzhu Culture Museum Hangzhou, China 2003-08 photo © Christian Richters The museum houses a collection of archaeological findings from the Liangzhu culture, also known as the Jade culture (c3000 BC). It forms the northern point of the ‘Liangzhu Cultural Village’, a newly created park town near Hangzhou. The building is set on a lake and connected via bridges to the park. The sculptural quality of the building ensemble reveals itself gradually as the visitor approaches the museum through the park landscape. The museum is composed of four bar-formed volumes made of Iranian travertine stone, equal in 18m width but differing in height. Each volume contains an interior courtyard. These landscaped spaces serve as a link between the exhibition halls and invite the visitor to linger and relax. Despite the linearity of the exhibition halls, they enable a variety of individual tour routes through the museum. To the south of the museum is an island with an exhibition area, linked to the main museum building via a bridge. The edge areas of the surrounding landscape, planted with dense woods, allow only a few directed views into the park. photo © Christian Richters The entrance hall can be reached via a courtyard, the centrepiece of which is a reception desk of Ipe wood, lit from above. The material concept consists of solid materials that age well, Ipe wood and travertine stone, and extends to all public areas of the museum. Client: Zhejiang Vanke Narada Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. Project Date: 2003 Completion: June 2007 Opening: October 2008 Architect: David Chipperfield Architects Principal: David Chipperfield Director: Mark Randel Project Architect: Annette Flohrschütz Project Team: Libin Chen, Marcus Mathias, Christof Piaskowski, Arndt Weiss, Liping Xu Gross floor area: 9.500 m² Landscape Design: Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten Exhibition designer: Guangdong Jimei Design and Engineering Co. Graphics: Ute Zscharnt in collaboration with SV Associates, Andrew Mark Lawrence, Nancy Chen Si Min Local Architect: ZTUDI The Architectural Design and Research Institute Zhejiang University of Technology Photographs: Christian Richters Liangzhu Culture Museum images / information from David Chipperfield Architects 031108