Located in Hangzhou at the junction of the Grand Canal and the Hanggang River, the Grand Canal Museum will reflect the Canal’s importance in Chinese cultural and natural landscapes and create a contemporary gathering place.
Surrounded by water on three sides, the Museum will tell the story of the Grand Canal: its construction, its role in the agriculture of China’s eastern plain, and its cultural radiance today. The museum exhibition area comprises 50,000 sm and is organized on two identical floors that can operate independently. The museum space is elevated 12 meters above the ground to provide extra covered and shaded public space. A grand ballroom and a banquet room are located under the elevated museum. The museum’s facade consists of large, concave cast glass elements meant to resemble the sparkle of rippling water.
Behind the museum a large mountain-shaped conference center-hotel complex connects to the city thanks to its proximity to the main road. A contiguous vertical space connects the three key programs of the building: the conference center on the lower floors, the museum lobby in the middle, and the restaurants and hotel on the top. The facade of the “Mountain” is mineral and solid, meant to juxtapose the glass of the museum and embody the classic Chinese ideal of “water in the front, mountain in the back.”
See Also: China’s Wuxi Taihu Show Theater is inspired by the country’s largest bamboo forest
The project’s site is fully landscaped and includes a park-like urban plaza and a green roof atop the museum that is fully integrated into a storm water management system. The Grand Canal Museum is expected to begin construction in 2020 with a completion date in late 2023.
Related Stories
| Aug 29, 2014
Phifer and Partners to design 'transparent' Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
The design includes a stage that opens onto the city's Parade Square, so anyone passing by will be able to see performances.
| Aug 25, 2014
Ranked: Top cultural facility sector AEC firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Arup, Gensler, and Turner head BD+C's rankings of design and construction firms with the most revenue from cultural facility projects, as reported in the 2014 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 14, 2014
Museum of Mayan Culture draws inspiration from temple design [slideshow]
The Museo Maya de América in Guatemala City will be the world’s largest museum of Mayan history and culture, at 60,000 sf.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction market benefits from improving economy, new technology [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Following years of fairly lackluster demand for commercial property remodeling, reconstruction revenue is improving, according to the 2014 Giants 300 report.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Construction Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Structure Tone, Turner, and Gilbane top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction contractor and construction management firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Engineering Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Jacobs, URS, and Wiss, Janney, Elstner top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction engineering and engineering/architecture firms in the U.S.
| Jul 28, 2014
Reconstruction Sector Architecture Firms [2014 Giants 300 Report]
Stantec, HDR, and HOK top Building Design+Construction's 2014 ranking of the largest reconstruction architecture and architecture/engineering firms in the U.S.
| Jul 23, 2014
Architecture Billings Index up nearly a point in June
AIA reported the June ABI score was 53.5, up from a mark of 52.6 in May.
| Jul 21, 2014
Economists ponder uneven recovery, weigh benefits of big infrastructure [2014 Giants 300 Report]
According to expert forecasters, multifamily projects, the Panama Canal expansion, and the petroleum industry’s “shale gale” could be saving graces for commercial AEC firms seeking growth opportunities in an economy that’s provided its share of recent disappointments.
| Jul 18, 2014
Contractors warm up to new technologies, invent new management schemes [2014 Giants 300 Report]
“UAV.” “LATISTA.” “CMST.” If BD+C Giants 300 contractors have anything to say about it, these new terms may someday be as well known as “BIM” or “LEED.” Here’s a sampling of what Giant GCs and CMs are doing by way of technological and managerial innovation.
