Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai, Chinese Historic Building, Project Photo, News
Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Renewal of historic buildings in China – design by David Chipperfield Architects
30 Apr 2010
Rockbund Project & Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai
Shanghai, China
Dates built: 2006-13
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects
photo © Simon Menges
Following the establishment of international trading relations in the nineteenth century, Shanghai became a commercial and cultural centre of East Asia and home to a large number of European commercial offices and consulates.
Examples of Shanghai’s Art Deco style – European building styles combined with Asian elements, characteristic of the city’s early twentieth century architecture, are strung along the Bund, Shanghai’s boulevard on the west bank of the Huangpu river.
image © David Chipperfield Architects
An ensemble of historic buildings, now called the Rockbund Project, reflects the diversity of the colonial architecture and forms the Northern part of the Bund. By restoring the existing buildings and planning new ones, a team of international architects is helping to revitalise the Rockbund Project, which will accommodate office complexes, hotels, retail and apartments. David Chipperfield Architects has been commissioned with the restoration and conversion of eleven buildings (1).
image © Pure Rendering
The aim of the restoration concept is to present buildings that have aged with dignity and style: The façades will be carefully cleaned and repaired without destroying the original fabric. Subsequent conversions will be removed and the buildings returned to their original state as much as possible. Existing structures within the roof area of some buildings will be expanded in reaction to contemporary changes in usage. The expansion of the Andrews & George Building to create Rockbund 6 will see its historic fabric being combined with contemporary architecture: The listed threestorey façade of the existing building that marks the southern edge of the planning area will be renovated and eleven storeys added in the form of a stacked construction.
image © David Chipperfield Architects
The extensions to the National Industrial Bank (N.I.B.) and the Royal Asiatic Society (R.A.S.) Building are visible from Museum Square, the inner courtyard located in the south-west of the block. The new façades have been rendered using ‘Shanghai Plaster’ of the same quality as that used on the adjoining buildings. The former R.A.S. Building, once China’s first public museum, now houses the Rockbund Art Museum – a museum of contemporary art. Inside the Art Deco style building, the newly created flexible areas enable a range of different presentation concepts and the volumes of the upper floors have been spatially linked through the creation of a new atrium. The whole Rockbund Project will be accomplished with the completion of Rockbund 6 in 2013. The restoration works on the façades of the historic buildings will be finished by the end of 2010 and the Rockbund Art Museum will be opened on 4 May 2010 with an exhibition of works by Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang.
photograph © David Chipperfield Architects
(1) Royal Asiatic Society (R.A.S.) Building (1932), National Industrial Bank (N.I.B.) (1929), Andrews & George Building (1897), Ampire & Co. Building (1908), Yuan Ming Yuan Apartment (1904), YWCA Building (1933), Somekh Apartment (1936), Associate Mission Building (1923), Lyceum Building (1927), China Baptist Publication (1932) and Christian Literature Society Building (1932)
Rockbund Project & Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai – Building Information
Project start: 2006 Completion: 2010 (Rockbund Art Museum, further historic buildings), 2013 (Rockbund 6)
Gross floor area: 96,000 m² total development (47,600 m² development by DCA: 35,500 m² historic buildings, 2,300 m² Rockbund Art Museum, 9,800 m² Rockbund 6)
Client: Shanghai Bund de Rockefeller Group Master Development Co., Ltd.
Architect: David Chipperfield Architects
Contact architect: Shanghai Zhang Ming Architectural Design Firm (historic buildings),
China Construction (Shenzen) Design International (new buildings)
Landscape architect: Levin Monsigny Landschaftsarchitekten, Berlin, Germany
Rockbund Project & Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai images / information from David Chipperfield Architects
Location: Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai
Shanghai Architecture
Shanghai Architecture Designs – chronological list
Shanghai Architecture Walking Tours
Shanghai Bund Architecture
Shanghai West Bund Biennial Pavilions
Design: schmidt hammer lassen architects
photo : Adam Mørk
Shanghai West Bund Biennial Pavilions
North Bund Competition
Design: AS&P – Albert Speer & Partner
North Bund Competition Shanghai
Shanghai Chandelier
Architect: Sparch
Shanghai Cruise Terminal Building
Bund SOHO building – “China Best Tall Building Overall” for 2016
Design: von Gerkan, Marg and Partners Architects ; Architect of Record: ECADI
photo © Jerry Yin from SOHO China
Bund SOHO Building
Shanghai Building – Selection
Shanghai Tower : World’s First Double-Skin, Super-Tall Building
Shanghai Tower
Danish Pavilion, Expo 2010
BIG
Shanghai Expo 2010 Pavilion
Comments / photos for the Rockbund Art Museum Shanghai Architecture page welcome