Despite sharing a serpentine form, the Nanjing Sifang Art Museum has little in common with South Korea’s Jeongok Prehistory Museum, which we recently featured on the Zouk blog. Whilst both buildings house cultural artifacts within their snake-like shape, the Nanjing Sifang Art Museum makes a more direct connection with surrounding culture. In fact, despite its modern form, the building materials used in the construction of the Museum are surprisingly traditional.

Designed by American architecture firm Steven Holl Architects, the building aims to ‘explore shifting viewpoints, layers of space, and expanses of mist and water’. Considering these goals, it is unsurprising to see the building climb higher than all of its surroundings – both the nearby built environment (of which there isn’t much) and the trees that populate the green mountainside around the site pale in comparison. The varied perspectives offered by its twisting form and impressive height are a subtle reference to the traditional Chinese method of painting, which rejected the single vanishing point concept employed by the Western world.

Whilst the building is modern and its surroundings natural, the Museum’s construction materials strike a compromise. Bricks from central Nanjing are reused to pave the internal courtyard – a traditional feature no modern Chinese development can seem to do without – and the bamboo which formerly grew on the site was used to form the building’s concrete. This unusual method of setting concrete leaves a deep black stain on the surface of the building, and once again acts as a subtle reference to Chinese painting – something the building’s architects seem to have an affection for.

This fusion of modern and traditional also creeps in to the building’s interior. Recycled stormwater serves much of the Museum’s water requirements, whilst geothermal energy heats and cools the interior space. And any guests exhausted by the Nanjing Sifang Art Museum’s winding form and countless steps required to reach its peak can settle down to an extensive selection of traditional teas in the Museum’s tea house.

Modern architectural form. Traditional inspiration. And a nice cup of tea. A combination that we at Zouk approve of.

Share subscribe to our feed      subscribe by email

Filed under: top 5 designs by admin
No Comments »