KSP Engel und Zimmermann Architekten was awarded first prize for their Tianjin Art Gallery proposal. The Chinese government has been investing in new cultural buildings in an effort to battle the economic crisis by creating this new form of investment plan. The 33,000m2 art gallery will be one component in the city’s 90 ha cultural and leisure quarter, which will also include an opera house and other recreational centers.
More about the gallery after the break.
The building’s “subtractively designed shell” creates a “sculptural appearance” that will provide four permanent exhibition areas: Chinese calligraphy, Western art, sculpture and modern arts. The museum will sit inside the “encircling wall of the introvert sculpture garden” and include temporary exhibition areas, a library, cafeteria, restaurant and administrative facilities.
Construction is scheduled for December 2009.
Client: Tiangin HQ of Key Planning, Bureau of Urban Planning, Tianjin
Competition: Single-stage, tendered implementation competition, 1st prize
Property: 29,8000m2
Gross surface area: 33030.5m2
