The contest attracted 88 design teams representing more than 170 design firms, with just 15 teams chosen to envisage the Shenzhen Maritime Museum. These included UNStudio, Sou Fujimoto Architects, and Kengo Kuma & Associates.
The competition was launched by the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality (Municipal Ocean and Fisheries Bureau) and Bureau of Public Works of Shenzhen Municipality.
Shenzhen Maritime Museum will include a collection and exhibition centre with marine resources, an education centre for maritime culture, and a research hub for marine science (via ArchDaily).
SANAA’s winning ‘cloud in the sea’ proposal stood out as the best design for a leading maritime museum that blends into the natural landscape of the Dapeng Peninsula.
Maritime collections and exhibitions
“The light and transparent interface materials are turned into three types of interwoven design vocabularies respectively in full transparency, opacity, and translucency, which ingeniously align with public spaces, exhibition halls, and supporting areas in structure and logic,” said SANAA.
The competition jury also praised the design by OPEN architecture, which features six glass ‘iceberg’ buildings that rise from the water.
The museum is one of many attractions being developed in Shenzhen. In 2018, the city announced plans to build 10 landmark cultural facilities, including five museums, over three years.
Shenzhen creating cultural attractions
The cultural institutions include the Shenzhen Opera House, Shenzhen Hall of the National Museum of China, Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum, Shenzhen Natural History Museum, and the New Hall of Shenzhen Art Museum.
Meanwhile, a design team comprised of B+H, 3XN and Zhubo Design won an international competition to design the Shenzhen Natural History Museum.
In December, Zaha Hadid Architects revealed the design of the new Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum in Guangming Science City.
Images: SANAA
