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Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing

Sifang Art Museum, China design by Steven Holl Architects, NYC, USA

3 Jan 2014

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4 Nov 2013

Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing Building

China

2003-13

Design: Steven Holl Architects with Li Hu

Steven Holl Architects celebrates the opening of the Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

November 4, 2013, New York, NY — The Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China opened to the public on November 2nd with its inaugural exhibition, “The Garden of Diversion.” The 30,000sf museum is sited at the gateway to the Chinese International Practical Exhibition of Architecture (CIPEA), which brings together the work of 24 Chinese and international designers.

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

Designed by Steven Holl with Li Hu, the museum explores the shifting viewpoints, layers of space, and expanses of mist and water, which characterize the deep alternating spatial mysteries of the composition of Chinese painting.

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

The museum is formed by a “field” of parallel perspective spaces and garden walls in black bamboo-formed concrete over which a light “figure” hovers. The straight passages on the ground level gradually turn into the winding passage of the gallery above. Suspended high in the air, the upper gallery unwraps in a clockwise turning sequence and culminates at “in-position” viewing of the city of Nanjing in the distance. This visual axis creates a link back to the great Ming Dynasty capital city.

photographs © Sifang Art Museum

The opening exhibition at the Sifang Art Museum re-considers the utopian tradition of philosophical gardens in China. Curated by Philippe Pirotte, the exhibition includes site specific works by international artists such as He An, Gabriel Lester and Made In Company / Xu Zhen, and emerging Nanjing-based artist Li Jingxiong.

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

The show also features works on loan and from the permanent collection of the Sifang Art Museum by international artists like Olafur Eliasson, Liang Wei, Yutaka Sone, Danh Vo, Duan Jianyu, Marlene Dumas, Kan Xuan, Anselm Kiefer, Mao Yan, Lucy Raven, Luc Tuymans, Yang Fudong, Zhang Enli, Zhou Chunya, and Zhang Peili.

photographs © Sifang Art Museum

Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing images / information from Steven Holl Architects

Introduction to Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

SIFANG ART MUSEUM is located in the Laoshan National Forest Park, Nanjing, China, with an exhibition area of over 4 thousand square meters. It’s a nonprofit compound art institution, with main functions of exhibition, preservation, research and education.

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

The museum is designed by Steven Holl, today’s leading exponent of architecture. Though based in China, SIFANG ART MUSEUM is actively engaged in communication of different forms of art from different parts of the world. It is a truly an international museum.

photograph © Sifang Art Museum

In fact, SIFANG ART MUSEUM is part of the ambitious project, China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture (CIPEA), which engages 24 world-acclaimed architects including Arata Isozaki, Ryue Nishizawa, Steven Holl, Zhang Yonghe and Ai Weiwei from 15 countries and regions.

watercolors © Steven Holl

With 24 impressive buildings, the project goes beyond a mere showcase of contemporary art and architecture, but communicates art in a broad sense–the integration of fashion, art, design and music, making SIFANG ART MUSEUM more of a community of contemporary living and lifestyle than an academic art institution.

site photograph © Sifang Art Museum

Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing information from Sifang Art Museum via Steven Holl Architects

19 Apr 2011

Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture

China

Design: Steven Holl Architects

Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture

pictures : Iwan Baan

Perspective is the fundamental historic difference between Western and Chinese painting. After the 13th Century, Western painting developed vanishing points in fixed perspective. Chinese painters, although aware of perspective, rejected the single-vanishing point method, instead producing landscapes with “parallel perspectives” in which the viewer travels within the painting.

pictures : Shu He

The new museum is sited at the gateway to the Contemporary International Practical Exhibition of Architecture in the lush green landscape of the Pearl Spring near Nanjing, China. The museum explores the shifting viewpoints, layers of space, and expanses of mist and water, which characterize the deep alternating spatial mysteries of early Chinese painting. The museum is formed by a “field” of parallel perspective spaces and garden walls in black bamboo-formed concrete over which a light “figure” hovers.

The straight passages on the ground level gradually turn into the winding passage of the figure above. The upper gallery, suspended high in the air, unwraps in a clockwise turning sequence and culminates at “in-position” viewing of the city of Nanjing in the distance. The meaning of this rural site becomes urban through this visual axis to the great Ming Dynasty capital city, Nanjing.

photos : Steven Holl Architects

The courtyard is paved in recycled Old Hutong bricks from the destroyed courtyards in the center of Nanjing. Limiting the colors of the museum to black and white connects it to the ancient paintings, but also gives a background to feature the colors and textures of the artwork and architecture to be exhibited within. Bamboo, previously growing on the site, has been used in bamboo- formed concrete, with a black penetrating stain. The Museum has geothermal cooling and heating, and recycled storm water.

photos : Steven Holl Architects

Sifang Art Museum – Building Information

Construction period: Feb 2005 – 2013
Program: museum complex with galleries, tea room, bookstore, and a curator’s residence
Building area: 30,000 sqft / 2,787 sqm

Architect: Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl, Li Hu (design architect)
Hideki Hirahara (associate-in-charge)
Clark Manning, Daijiro Nakayama (project architect) Joseph Kan, JongSeo Lee, Richard Liu, Sarah Nichols (project team)

Client: Nanjing Foshou Lake Architecture and Art Developments Ltd
Associate architects: Architectural Design Institute, Nanjing University
Structural consultant: Guy Nordenson and Associates
Lighting design: L’Observatoire International

photos : Steven Holl Architects

Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture images / information from Steven Holl Architects

Previously:

15 Feb 2008

Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture Design

Nanjing, China

Design : Steven Holl Architects

picture from architects

Limiting the colors of the museum to black and white connects it to the ancient ink paintings, but also gives a background to feature the colors and textures of the artwork to be exhibited. The walls are of blackened concrete which is formed in bamboo-lined formwork. The texture gives a relief of the cross joints of native bamboo. The upper gallery in double wall translucent membranes allows the shadows of steel support trusses a ghost-like exposure.

The 3000 sq. m. museum’s flexible exhibition spaces are complimented by a Tea House and curator’s residence facing the south light and re-circulated water of the pond. Geothermal cooling and heating recycled and low embodied energy materials are part of the green building aims of the project.

Nanjing Museum of Art & Architecture image / information from Steven Holl Architects

Steven Holl Architects, NYC, USA

Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province. It is the former capital city of the Republic of China.

Location: Nanjing, China

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