Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows
Gallery of special exhibitions. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Stairs, Beam, HandrailNanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows, BeamNanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Brick, FacadeNanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows, FacadeNanjing Museum / CCTN Design - More Images+ 23

Text description provided by the architects. The Nanjing Museum is inside Zhongshan Gate, at the foot of Purple Mountain, edging along the old city wall in the east. The construction of the main exhibition hall (commonly known as the Old Main Hall) in the original building started in 1935, but was interrupted by the Anti-Japanese War before being completed in 1952; an art exhibition hall was added in 1999. Phase II of the reconstruction and expansion project was initiated in 2004.

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Waterfront
Main axis view. Image © Guangyuan Zhang

This was an important reconstruction and expansion project. Those architects of the old generation, such as Liang Sicheng, Yang Tingbao, Liu Dunzhen, Xu Jingzhi, and others, successively lead or participated in the design and construction of the project, so the structure deserves to be called a “classic” building. In addition to that, it carried the historical memory of the city. The designer approached the project with great reverence: the new construction was considered the extension of the historic and traditional Nanjing Museum. As a result, the design concept for this project was: “expansion, integration, and restructuring.”

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Facade, Windows
View of the old main hall and the distant mountain from the newly built cultural heritage gallery. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design
Sections and Elevations
Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Chair, Windows
Exhibition Hall. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design

After careful measuring and calculation, the Old Great Hall has been elevated by 9.84 feet (3 meters) on the same spot, so the building no longer lays lower than the city streets themselves. This has been achieved without making any impact on the building itself or to the natural outline of Purple Mountain, all the while minimizing the need for extensive underground earthworks, greatly improving the state of the building and making it easier to comprehensively streamline and organize both the aboveground and belowground areas of the complex.

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows, Facade
Gallery of intangible cultural heritage. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design
Sketch
Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Image 21 of 28
Facade Detail. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design

The facades of the architecture have a unified design, made up of hanging stone materials with a texture of pale gray and cinnabar dots and lines on the surface, rendered in a classic look so that the overall structure takes on a rough but reserved appearance, both tender and stately. It was decided for the interior to be decorated with copper plates. The unadorned, decorous, and elegant plating is congenial to the primitive-modern qualities of the overall design, and works well with the glazed roof tiles to bring out the material’s best features.

The original wood stairs with more than 80 years of history are retained for exhibition in the junction area between the old main hall and new building.

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Stairs, Beam, Handrail
Original Wood Stairs At the Junction. Image © Guangyuan Zhang

The atriums are of various sizes and functions, so as the courtyards, which are meant to interrupt the tediously long course of a visit and make it into a rhythmic one to give visitors a more pleasurable and contemplative experience.

The skylights of the atriums are designed using the reference of “Zaojing,” a traditional decoration in Chinese architecture. The use of copperplate makes it both modern and elegant, creating a unique central hall.

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows, Lighting, Beam
Atrium of gallery of history. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design
Plans
Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Image 22 of 28
Exhibition Hall. Image Courtesy of CCTN Design

Post-expansion the Nanjing Museum now occupies an underground construction area of more than 322,917 square feet (30,000 square meters). The design uses a 656-foot-long (200-meter-long) underground passage, four sunken courtyards of different sizes, and

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Image 18 of 28
Underground light corridor. Image © Guangyuan Zhang

12 naturally-lit atriums were designed to connect multiple underground exhibition halls, enlivening the underground space while successfully solving the general problems of poor lighting and bad ventilation common to underground public spaces.

Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design - Windows, Facade
Junction area between the reserved old main hall and the newly built gallery of history. Image © Guangyuan Zhang

Project gallery

See allShow less

Project location

Address:321 Zhongshan E Rd, Xuanwu Qu, Nanjing Shi, Jiangsu Sheng, China

Click to open map
Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Nanjing Museum / CCTN Design" 08 Jun 2018. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/893634/nanjing-museum-cctn-design> ISSN 0719-8884

Front elevation of the gallery of art. Image © Guangyuan Zhang

程泰宁院士经典作品:南京博物院 / 筑境设计

You've started following your first account!

Did you know?

You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.