MAD architects: national art museum of china, beijing

MAD architects’ proposal for the new national art museum of china, beijing all images courtesy of MAD architects

the original structure of the national art museum of china (NAMOC) built in 1962, houses one of the country’s largest art collections and has played host to some of the influential exhibitions as recorded in contemporary chinese history. the current plans are to move the institution into a new building, situated within a designated ‘art district’ on the central axis of the 2008 olympic site.

answering to an international competition to design a new home for NAMOC, MAD architects‘ proposal is city-sized institution where the inclusion of public space is emphasized. part of a larger six volume masterplan, the firm’s concept combines an elevated public square which is protected by a floating mega volume above.

MAD’s design is organized into three layers, where programs are divided by each level. the one-storey ground floor houses all ancillary functions and is conceived in such a way that it can be operated independently from the museum in off hours. above this, a 20,000 square meter urban plaza program acts as the main gallery for permanent art collections and exhibitions. the arrangement of this hall gives visitors the opportunity to decide how to engage with the works on show, while simultaneously being surrounded by outward views of the surrounding cityscape courtesy of windows that wrap around the perimeter of the structure. this level is also directly connected to the former olympic park via a bridge, thus making use of an area of the urban plan which would otherwise be ignored.

the third and final sequence of the new museum is a domed concourse that sits at the top of the building, a heavenly space which can be considered the ‘floating art city’, hovering over the visitors like a cloud.

at the second level, windows wrap around the perimeter of the structure offering visitors a view of the surrounding city landscape and former olympic park

MAD’s proposal for the new NAMOC puts emphasis on public space

the top floor of the museum is a domed exhibition

top view

20, 000 square metres are devoted to exhibition space

scale model

model render cross section cross section

floor plan

concept sketch

project info:

location: beijing, china year: 2011 type: museum site area: 30,000 sqm building area: 152,200 sqm height: 58 m

director in charge: ma yansong, qun dang design team: zhao wei, sohith perera, yu kui, jei kim, geraldine lo, mao beihong associate engineer: ARUP group ltd