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
Museums | Dec 18, 2019
Weiss/Manfredi will lead the master plan of the La Brea Tar Pits
The firm was selected by The Natural History Museums of Los Angeles County after an international competition.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 65 Cultural Sector Construction Firms for 2019
Whiting-Turner, Turner, PCL, Clark Group, and Gilbane top the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector contractors and construction management firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 70 Cultural Sector Engineering Firms for 2019
Jacobs, Arup, EXP, BRPH, and Thornton Tomasetti head the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector engineering and engineering architecture (EA) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
Top 110 Cultural Sector Architecture Firms for 2019
Gensler, Populous, DLR Group, Stantec, and Perkins and Will top the rankings of the nation's largest cultural facility sector architecture and architecture engineering (AE) firms, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 3, 2019
2019 Cultural Facility Giants Report: New libraries are all about community
The future of libraries is less about being quiet and more about hands-on learning and face-to-face interactions. This and more cultural sector trends from BD+C's 2019 Giants 300 Report.
Museums | Sep 20, 2019
Kistefos Museum’s new art institution doubles as a bridge to connect two riverbanks
BIG designed the project.
Museums | Aug 21, 2019
Cincinnati Reds debut renovated Reds Hall of Fame and Museum
FRCH NELSON designed the project.
Museums | Aug 8, 2019
The Challenge Museum includes a two minute walk through farmland to reach the building
UNStudio is designing the project.
Museums | Aug 1, 2019
Foster + Partners wins competition for the expansion and remodeling of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
The design looks to reorient the museums towards the city.
Museums | Jul 29, 2019
A new museum debuts inside the Empire State Building
A $165 million, 10,000-sf museum opened on the second floor of the Empire State Building in New York City, completing the second of a four-phase “reimagining” of that building’s observatory experience, which draws four million visitors annually.
