Erdos Museum, Ordos Building Design, Architect, Gobi Desert Masterplan News

Erdos Museum Mongolia : Ordos Architecture

Contemporary Mongolian Architecture design by MAD Architects, Asia

24 May 2022

Ordos Museum Building by MAD

photo : Iwan Baan

Ordos Museum

Dates built: 2005-2011

Ordos Museum has a footprint of 43,000 square meters (462,850 square feet) with one floor below grade and four floors above.

photo : Iwan Baan

Influenced by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, MAD envisioned a mysterious abstract form capable of fostering an alternate, timeless development of Chinese tradition and future.

photo : Iwan Baan

16 Mar 2009

Date of design: 2008-

Architects: MAD

On site – new images 16 Mar 2009:

Erdos Museum photograph by MAD

Erdos Museum Building

Project Summary:

Erdos Museum is located in a city that is currently being built, almost overnight.

Driven by a booming economy, the Municipal Government of Erdos has determined to build a new city centre, dozens of kilometers away from the current city. There was nothing but the Gobi Desert on this site in 2005.

Erdos Museum building photo by MAD

An urban masterplan was created, entitled ‘Ever Rising Sun On The Grass Land’. This plan drew a beautiful but empty image, one which fulfills the wishes of the government, but doesn’t hold much for the people who will have to live there.

building photo : Shu He

The Erdos Museum will be created at the centre of this new city. Our concept is a reflection and a reaction to the masterplan. The design is a natural, irregular nucleus, to contrast with the planned city; to provide interior scenery completely separate to that which is outside. The museum is wrapped in reflective metal louvers. The surface of the museum thus reflects and fragments the surroundings.

Erdos Museum – Building Information

Client: Erdos Municipal Government
Status: Under construction
Location: Erdos, Inner Mongolia
Type: Museum
Site Area: 27,760 sqm
Building Area: 41, 227 sqm
Building Height: 40 m

Director in Charge: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun
Design Team: Shang Li, Andrew C. Bryant, Howard Jiho Kim, Matthias Helmreich, Zheng Tao, Qin Lichao, Yang Lin, Sun Jieming Yin Zhao, Du Zhijian
Collaborator: China Institute of Building Standard Design and Research
The Institute of Shanxi Architectural Design and Research

The interior will become a new public space, divided into several exhibition halls, connected by continuous white curvilinear walls. The glazed roof will let light into this space, whilst the louvers will allow natural ventilation.

Erdos Museum Mongolia images / information from MAD Architects 130808 / 160309

MAD Architects, China

Location: Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China

Inner Mongolia Architecture

Contemporary Mongolia Architecture

Mongolian Architecture Designs – chronological list

Contemporary Mongolia Architecture – selection:

National Cardiovascular Centre, Ulan Bator, Mongolia
Architects: IDOM

image courtesy of architects practice
National Cardiovascular Centre Mongolia

Revolving Sail Bridge, Ordos, Kangbashi, Mongolia
Design: Margot Krasojević Architects

image courtesy of architecture practice
Revolving Sail Bridge in Mongolia