Spring Art Museum Songzhuang Building, Chinese Gallery Architecture Project, Images, Architect

Spring Art Museum Songzhuang Building

Gallery Architecture in Beijing, China – design by Praxis d’Architecture architects

16 Aug 2016

Spring Art Museum Building in Songzhuang

Design: Praxis d’Architecture, architects

Location: Songzhuang art colony, Beijing, China

Spring Art Museum

DESIGN NAME:
Spring Art Museum

PRIMARY FUNCTION:
Exhibition

INSPIRATION:
In the design the architects sought a piece of architecture that is open, culturally rooted, and arousing a feeling of sublimity – a noble condition of human instinct, which they believe, although through different means, shares the same purpose as the art it accommodates.

UNIQUE PROPERTIES / PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
The building massing was resolved into a U shape that recalls traditional triple house courtyard familiar to the local people. The courtyard faces a road on the east side and provides entries to the main exhibition spaces. There is an uninterrupted path from the road level to the courtyard and then all the way to the roof, which facilitates outdoor art display, draws activities in and blurs the boundary between roof and facade.

OPERATION / FLOW / INTERACTION:
The design intended to fully utilize natural light and ventilation to reach an economical maintenance. Raised by 1.6m above the road level in the south and east, the courtyard is roof to the ground floor to be entered from north and west. Two sunken gardens punctuate one level down to reach the earth, allowing big trees to grow out, as well as providing natural light and ventilation to the ground floor that holds some dark spaces, a lounge, and several studios for resident artists.

PROJECT DURATION AND LOCATION:
The project design was from 2010 to 2012, and the construction is from 2011 to 2015. It is located in Songzhuang, a so called “base camp” for Chinese contemporary art.

PRODUCTION / REALIZATION TECHNOLOGY:
The roof comprises series of terraces at different levels, and the height difference allows skylight into major exhibition spaces in which the ceiling profile corresponds to that of the roof. The spaces with various heights and proportions allow flexibility in exhibiting art. Aluminum grid hanging ceiling is chosen to conceal structure, MEP equipment and integrate natural light and artificial light into a uniformed materiality to achieve a clean, consistent and neutral atmosphere optimized for showing art. The exterior wall is applied with wall tile that is economical and readily available in the market, the tiling style, however, shows a refined materiality that is in contrast to the surroundings, and further speaks of fluidity present in the spatial sequence of the architecture.

SPECIFICATIONS / TECHNICAL PROPERTIES:
The building measures 65m from south to north and 29m from east to west. It contains three levels with the highest point at 19.4m above the ground at the south west corner. The total floor area is 4700 m² within which 2400㎡ area is for exhibition.

RESEARCH ABSTRACT:
The museum was built in concrete frame structure, with CMU blocks for the exterior wall, which opt for wall tile as the most practical finishing material. We did a research on wall tiles, in search of ways to use this very common and inexpensive material to achieve the maximum quality and refinement. Several on site mock-ups have been carried out to find out how tiles could turn a corner without breaking the continuity of an angled seam line. In the end the tiling style became one of the most distinguished features of the the architecture.

CHALLENGE:
The biggest challenge was to work under an extremely stringent construction budget and meanwhile with a contractor of primitive construction knowledge. Due to poor construction quality from such an inexperienced contractor initially hired by the client, major rework had to be done on waterproof course for the entire roof and exterior wall, and it took nearly 5 years for the whole construction to be completed.

photographs : Jin Fengzhe

TEAM MEMBERS:
Shaohua Di, Liu Xing, Zhang Xiaodong, Di Xiangjie, Feng Jiancheng, Feng Shuxian, He Feng and Wang Boyu.

IMAGE CREDITS:
Photographer Xia Zhi unless stated otherwise

PROFILE:
The clients for this museum were locals who are enthusiastic about contemporary art.

AWARD DETAILS
Winner – Spring Art Museum Exhibition by Praxis D’ Architecture is Winner in Architecture, Building and Structure Design Category, 2015-16.

Website: Praxis d’Architecture

Spring Art Museum Building – shortlisted for A’ Design Awards & Competition 2016

Location: Songzhuang, Beijing, China

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