Tianfu Art Museum - MoMa Chengdu

Site Area: 17,900 qm GFA: 44,740 qm The concept obtained the 1st prize in the competition organized by the Chengdu Ministry of Culture and the Chengdu Culture & Tourism Development Group in December 2007. Besides the masterplan, which was judged very sensitively to the historical and urban context, the concept investigates the meaning of what a contemporary space should offer and a modern art museum image should be. - Urban and historical context - The site is on the north-west of the central Tianfu Square. The city council is now planning to build a double ring around this square. The inside ring will be the new cultural center, including cultural and leisure facilities and museum buildings, the outside one will be a crown of CBD style skyscrapers. Coincidentally the site corresponds to the southwest corner of the (already disappeared) "Si Chuan Gong Yuan", ancient city wall from the Qing Dynasty. If you dig here, there is a good chance to find some of those historical remains. - Masterplan - The concept of the project tries to keep advantage from the existing situation of the surroundings. The basic idea is to enlarge the existing public space of Tianfu Square and make it "climbing" onto the roof of the new building. And the new museum is not one monumental building, but a small cultural area made of few smaller blocks. Two main axis cut the site and create a comfortable pedestrian island where people can walk away from cars. The new urban situation is also establishing new visual and physical connections between existing parts of the city, people can pass trough the plot and easily come from the Tianfu square and reach the surrounding museums. The four museum blocks (a restaurant, an auditorium including some artist ateliers, an administrative building and the proper museum building) create an arising slope on which people can walk, seat, play, have a rest, enjoy the view to the central square like in a open public street theater. The whole shape according to the function is rising step by step from the earth to the sky, like a jade, or a abstract sculpture of dragon. The ending corner of the building replaces the original position of the ancient and forgotten city wall.