after more than three years of construction, the UCCA dune art museum in china is now complete. the project, designed by OPEN architecture, is buried within a sand dune on a quiet beach in qinhuangdao. largely enveloped by the dune, the 930-square-meter museum contains a total of ten interconnected galleries and a café. with the museum now open to the public, the first images of the project have been revealed. take a first look at the scheme below, and see designboom’s previous coverage here.

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

 

 

in september 2018, the UCCA — china’s leading independent institution of contemporary art — announced that it will work in partnership with OPEN to program and operate the museum, which will be known as the UCCA dune. the exhibitions have been designed to exist in dialogue with the building’s unique form and its relationship with the natural surroundings. while the museum’s exterior is fully integrated with nature, its interior spaces have been conceived as a mysterious network of organically shaped caves.

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

 

 

from an environmental standpoint, openings throughout the building, each with a different orientation and size, provide natural lighting for the museum throughout the year. meanwhile, a sand-covered roof greatly reduces the building’s summer heat load, and a low-energy, zero-emission ground source heat pump system replaces traditional air conditioning.

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

 

 

 

the complex three-dimensional geometry of the building’s concrete shell was shaped by hand by local workers in qinhuangdao (some of whom were former shipbuilders), using formwork made from small linear strips of wood and other materials. OPEN deliberately retained the irregular and imperfect texture left by the formwork, allowing traces of the building’s manual construction to be felt and seen.

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

 

 

OPEN is simultaneously working on plans for an adjacent sister institution — the sea art museum — which would rise out of the water like a solitary rock. in the near future, a long walkway will extend out into the ocean, allowing visitors to walk between the two museums when the tide is low.

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © ni nan 

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © zaiye studio

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © tian fangfang

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © tian fangfang

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © wu qingshan

OPEN architecture completes dune art museum in northeast china
image © ni nan

 

 

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project info:

 

design year: 2015 – 2018
status: completed
client: aranya
operator: UCCA
program: reception, café, community room, exhibition spaces, outdoor exhibition, roof terrace
building area: 930 sqm
location: qinhuangdao, china

 

architects: OPEN architecture
principals in charge: li hu, huang wenjing
project team: hou tingting (project architect), wang mengmeng, hu boji, fang kuanyin, joshua parker, lu di, lin bihong, ye qing, steven shi, jia han
local design institute: CABR technology co., ltd.
lighting design: X studio, school of architecture, tsinghua university, china + OPEN architecture
photography: wu qingshan, tian fangfang, ni nan, zaiye studio