Science and Technology Museum for Xingtai, China
Coop Himmelb(l)au has won a competition to design a new science and technology museum in Xingtai, which is the oldest city in northern China. The building will be designed with new structural concepts, hosting plus energy systems and will display the rich Chinese traditional culture, showcasing scientific and technological achievements China offers.
The design sublimates the concept of traditional Chinese gardens into three dimensions and transforms the exhibition space into a container that can create a space in three dimensions. Sitting on an undulating base, the floating building acts as both the reminiscent of the past and an innovative, bold medium of the current and future. The floating part of the structure will also be able to be used as a billboard screen through its giant public face.
The spatial concept uses the notion of “Seeing by Walking” that proposes that the mind is stimulated while the body is in motion. Thus the museum space is designed as a continuum with variable points of view, both linear and diagonal, to view art and to view the outside surroundings to stimulate thinking.
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