Established in 1979, Shenzhen has rapidly grown into one of China’s most ambitious urban and economic ventures. Over forty years and twelve million people after its foundation, Shenzhen’s urban model has proven to be just right for China’s growth and development as a powerful nation. At the shoreline, between the bay and the Danan Mountains, the Guoshen Museum represents a unique opportunity for the Qianhai Bay.
The Museum will provide countless opportunities for culture, education, art, tourism, world class events and performance to this ambitious development. Giving Shenzhen the status of a worldwide cosmopolitan city. The unique coastal and mountainous landscapes influence the openness and porosity of the museums relationship to its context by dissolving the boundaries between inside and outside on a public ground floor.
The museum’s architecture is derived from a courtyard typology. This provides an elegant solution for perimetrical circulation with a central space dedicated for public use. The building is then elevated as it unwraps vertically, transforming the courtyard into a great atrium space. By lifting the building, the entire ground floor becomes a public plaza allowing bystanders to wander around the museum without having the need to enter it.
The clear differentiation between architecture and landscape blurs through this continues open ground floor plane. The museum only touches the ground to separate the different programmatic components: Exhibition, Educational and Research. This allows them to operate independently if required. Each programmatic component is sculpted following its programmatic use.