The 60,000-sm Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art in Suzhou, Jiangsu, China recently topped out. Designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), the museum is conceived as a village of 12 pavilions, offering a modern interpretation of the elements that have defined the city’s urbanism, architecture, and landscape for centuries.
The museum is part of the city’s development of Jinji Lake and reimagines the traditional garden ‘lang,’ a line that traces a path, framing gardens with outdoor art installations and coalescing as pavilions. The museum design showcases Suzhou’s garden tradition and takes visitors on a journey through art, nature, and water.
The museum’s main design element is the ribbon of the roof, which extends into a pattern of eaves that double as sheltered walkways through the site. Knots in the thread of walkways frame pavilions, and as a result, the museum’s architecture entwines through the landscape. The draping walkways further extend out into Jinji Lake, which can be appreciated from above on the Suzhou Ferris wheel.
Bjarke Ingels' design for the art museum connects the city to the lake
The overriding design concept is a Chinese garden of pavilions and courtyards. Individual pavilions are woven together by glazed galleries and porticoes, creating a network of interconnected sculpture courtyards and exhibition spaces. “Weaving between the Ferris wheel legs, the museum branches out like a rhizome, connecting the city to the lake,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group.
“The result is a manmade maze of plants and artworks to get lost within. Its nodular logic only becomes distinctly discernible when viewed from the Ferris wheel’s gondolas above,” Ingels adds. “Against the open space of the lake, the gentle catenary curvature of the roofs forms a graceful silhouette on the waterfront. Viewed from above, the stainless-steel roof tiles form a true fifth facade.”
Defined by sloping roof eaves, each pavilion’s façade is made of rippled and curved glass, as well as warm-toned stainless steel that reflects the garden colors. The pavilions are connected above and underground via bridges and tunnels, offering the museum flexibility to plan exhibition flow according to seasons and exhibited art pieces. The paths leading through the site will be covered with natural stone.
Arriving at the museum, the visitor will be faced by an expansive, welcoming plaza in front of the visitor center—the entry point to the museum. From there, visitors will be able to proceed inside or along the exterior, through the gardens and to the water bank. Visitors can follow a continuous path through the museum’s interior or wander depending on the aim or weather conditions of the visit. The facility will also house a theater in one of its pavilions.
The museum is scheduled for completion in 2025.
Client: Suzhou Harmony Development Group Co. Ltd
Design Architect: BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group
Architect of Record: ARTS Group
MEP Engineer: ARTS Group
Structural Engineer: ARTS Group
General Contractor/Construction Manager: Suzhou Erjian
Related Stories
Museums | Feb 17, 2023
First Americans Museum uses design metaphors of natural elements to honor native worldview
First Americans Museum (FAM) in Oklahoma City honors the 39 tribes in Oklahoma today, reflecting their history through design metaphors of nature’s elements of earth, wind, water, and fire. The design concept includes multiple circles suggested by arcs, reflecting the native tradition of a circular worldview that encompasses the cycle of life, the seasons, and the rotation of the earth.
Museums | Feb 12, 2023
A new museum will be a central piece within the University of Notre Dame's expanding arts district
Next November, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana is scheduled to open the first phase of Raclin Murphy Museum of Art, a 70,000-sf cultural facility that will eventually replace the campus’ venerable Snite Museum of Art and double the exhibit space available for Notre Dame’s 31,000-item art collection.
Giants 400 | Feb 9, 2023
New Giants 400 download: Get the complete at-a-glance 2022 Giants 400 rankings in Excel
See how your architecture, engineering, or construction firm stacks up against the nation's AEC Giants. For more than 45 years, the editors of Building Design+Construction have surveyed the largest AEC firms in the U.S./Canada to create the annual Giants 400 report. This year, a record 519 firms participated in the Giants 400 report. The final report includes 137 rankings across 25 building sectors and specialty categories.
Giants 400 | Feb 6, 2023
2022 Reconstruction Sector Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. building reconstruction and renovation sector
Gensler, Stantec, IPS, Alfa Tech, STO Building Group, and Turner Construction top BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest reconstruction sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report.
Steel Buildings | Feb 3, 2023
Top 10 structural steel building projects for 2023
A Mies van der Rohe-designed art and architecture school at Indiana University and Morphosis Architects' Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa, Calif., are among 10 projects to win IDEAS² Awards from the American Institute of Steel Construction.
Giants 400 | Feb 1, 2023
2022 Cultural Facilities Giants: Top architecture, engineering, and construction firms in the U.S. cultural facilities sector
Populous, DLR Group, KPFF, Arup, and Turner Construction head BD+C's rankings of the nation's largest cultural facilities sector architecture, engineering, and construction firms, as reported in the 2022 Giants 400 Report. Building types include museums, public libraries, performing arts centers, and concert venues.
Museums | Jan 18, 2023
Building memory: Why interpretive centers matter in an era of social change
The last few years have borne witness to some of the most rapid cultural shifts in our nation’s long history. If the experience has taught us anything, it is that we must find a way to keep our history in view, while also putting it in perspective.
Museums | Oct 25, 2022
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion emphasizes human connection to oceans
Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion, currently under construction, features several exhibits that examine the human connection with the Earth’s oceans.
| Sep 1, 2022
The University of Iowa opens the new Stanley Museum of Art, a public museum for both discovering and teaching art
The University of Iowa recently completed its new Stanley Museum of Art, a public teaching museum designed by BNIM.
Giants 400 | Aug 22, 2022
Top 90 Construction Management Firms for 2022
CBRE, Alfa Tech, Jacobs, and Hill International head the rankings of the nation's largest construction management (as agent) and program/project management firms for nonresidential and multifamily buildings work, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2022 Giants 400 Report.
