MAD architects completes china wood sculpture museum

in the ever-growing city of harbin, china, MAD architects has unveiled the completed ‘china wood sculpture museum.’  the 200 meter-long twisting structure is informed by the gnarled burls of wood albeit expressed architectonically with a skin of polished steel plates. an abstraction of nature is at the conceptual center of the building which serves to house local wood sculptures as well as paintings depicting the snow-laden and icy landscape.

image © iwan baan (also main image)

the tedium of the urban grid is ruptured with the sinuous, light-reflecting form while skylights split the surface of the architecture so as to wash the interiors with light from the low-hanging northern chinese sun. the 13,000 square foot building references the local landscape while confronting the standardized, densely populated residential complexes. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image © xiazhi

1/14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

project info:

location: harbin, china

program: museum

site area: 9,788 m2
building area: 12,959 m2
building length: 196 m
building height: 21 m

associate engineers: the architectural design and research institute of harbin institute of technology 

curtain wall consultant: inhabit group

panel optimization: gehry technologies

steel structure contractor: zhejiang jing gong steel structure co. ltd.
director in charge: ma yansong, dang qun

design team: yu kui, daniel gillen, bas van wylick, diego perez, jordan kanter, huang wei, julian sattler, liu weiwei, tang liu, mao peihong, maria alejandra obregon, nickolas urano, gus chan, shin park,  alejandro gonzalez