Foster + Partners has announced the opening of the Datong Art Museum, a new cultural destination in China. The institution launched with a special exhibition featuring oil paintings by local artists.
Designed by Foster + Partners, the UK’s largest architecture firm, the building itself is a series of interconnected pyramids. Gallery spaces are sunken below ground and surrounded by landscaped plazas.
Datong Art Museum is also home to various spaces devoted to education and learning. These include a children’s gallery, archive and art storage facilities. Outdoor performances will be staged at an amphitheatre.
Additionally, an education centre and media library complete the museum’s education programme. There are also facilities to support artist residencies, discussions and conferences.
“The museum is conceived as a social hub for people, an ‘urban living room’ for Datong, that brings people, art and artists together in a space where they can interact,” said Luke Fox, head of studio at Foster + Partners.
New ‘urban living room’ for Datong
“At the heart of the museum, the Grand Gallery exemplifies this spirit with a generously scaled, flexible exhibition space designed to accommodate specially commissioned large-scale artworks as well as performance art and other events.”
Visitors enter the museum via winding ramps, taking them to a sunken plaza. Sinking the building into the ground reduces energy needs, Foster + Partners said. The roof is clad in naturally oxidised curved steel plates that help drain water.
The building’s four interconnected roof pyramids increase in height and fan outwards, with light filling the interior through roof lights, located at the peak of each pyramid.
“Designed for the future, we hope the museum will become the centre of the city’s cultural life – a dynamic public destination,” Fox added.
In November, Hong Kong’s M+ museum opened to the public in the West Kowloon Cultural District. M+ is one of the world’s largest museums for modern and contemporary visual culture.
Images: Foster + Partners
