Chinese design firm CSD Design has designed an art museum that features a curvaceous volume and roof, centering on the Yinggui Lake, and face each other across the bank in Chengdu, China.

Named Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum And Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum, the museum, covering a total of 37,558 square meters, emerges as a fusion of art, nature and the cultural spirit of Chengdu city.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum And Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum has recently been awarded at the WA Awards 41st Cycle in the Interior Design/Realised category. 

The project was selected both the votes of Honorary Members and Winners in earlier cycles among the 10 projects and selected democratically, by the votes of World Architecture Community Members among the 5 projects.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

Smooth and curved glazed-façade wraps the whole building with an undulating roof in the shape of petals that "represent tolerance and the humanistic spirit of art and life of Chengdu people," according to CSD Design.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

To create this overall form, the design team is inspired by the city flower of Chengdu, Hibiscus, which is mellow and elegant. The designers aimed to create "a space which can inherit the architectural temperament and meet people’s need for function of space on the one hand, and extend the spiritual core of the building on the other."

While the whole space showcases itself as the power of tension, the design of the interiors reflects "Chengdu dwellers’ tolerance, kind and love for art, as well as the cultural spirit of Chengdu City." 

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

The overall form and massing of Tianfu Museum of Contemporary Art evokes the towering mountains surrounding Chengdu, while its interior design reflects the perseverance of Chengdu people with simple design language.

The design team wanted to use different design languages and materials to convey the urban appearance and humanistic temperament of Chengdu in the two art fields.

Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

While Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum features consists of a sharp-edged gray-tone geometric configuration, Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum exhibits spaces that are predominantly made of bamboo veneer and offer a soft appearance.

Designers believes that "contemporary art space design is different from commercial space design in that it’s not a simple decoration design in the traditional sense, but a design that can reflect the temperament of architectural space and satisfies the function and spirit transmission of space." 

"What’s more, it should coexist with architecture and space, rather than a decoration of space." 

Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

According to the designers, "the design of contemporary art space should make coexistence with the aesthetic language of architectural space to represent a kind of spirit, and convey the prosperity of Chengdu’s culture and art, as well as the current international vision."

As the team emphasizes, the shape of petals represents tolerance and the humanistic spirit of art and life of Chengdu people instead of being a form.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

In this connection, the design team intended to create such a space meeting Chengdu dweller’s need for leisure life with design language.

The museum has only one entrance and exit, typically found in other museums. The service desk integrates with the whole building, functioning as a platform for reception and consultation, as well as show the exhibition information. 

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

In the entrance area, the design team arranges a storage space for storing bags and clothes, and a rest space for interpreters. Visitors can find an art shop in the exit area to buy souvenirs as a keepsake.

To reflect the regional and contemporary nature of Sichuan, the design team used bamboo veneer. "Overall, the decoration and the space itself set each other off beautifully, so that people can fell the appeal of the space," said the design team. 

The sculptural appearance is obvious in the second floor where the structure of the roof smoothly cuts the glazing, while creating a bulbous form inside. Visitors can feel the roof's undulating structure from the interior.

"As for the lighting of the whole space, due to the curved form of the top, the design team uphold the concept of light transmission from the bamboo shed, and use the intelligent system to control the lighting area and the illumination intensity based on the distribution of sunlight and indoor light," added the design team.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

The team also used the same bamboo veneer in the stairs and floor balustrades to contribute the architectural and sculptural sense of the space, which is in line with the artistic temperament of the art museum.

The service desk in the selling area is placed closer to the inside, so that the extra space functions as a waiting area without disrupting the traffic here. In addition, the design of the selling area is consistent with the walls of the building.

There is a circular resting place in the installation exhibition hall, where visitors can enjoy themselves while appreciating the surrounding environment - people, sculptures, buildings and scenery outside.

The quiet water curtain connects the atrium space with the B1, thus making the B1 more dynamic and flexible. The art spirit showed here impresses people most. 

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

The whole space is full of artistic atmosphere - sunlight travels freely through the space, natural light alternates with and lighting. The architectural space tells people that Tianfu Art Museum represent Chengdu’s place of an international art place.

The design of Museum of Contemporary Art is conceived as pure and simple by offering the spatial rhythm and implicit forces. According to the designers, "it’s also international and passionate." 

Considering the existing context, the team finds the mountains around Chengdu majestic, and they add that the mountains show "the fortitude, strength and perseverance of Chengdu people."

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

In this sense, the design team skillfully uses various design symbols representing perseverance and power to interpret a dialogue with contemporary art by combining them with the original structure of the building.

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum

For the exterior of the building, the team used white latex paint, concrete and steel plate materials and they consider that those materials "perfectly reflect the temperament of the space while echoing the shape."

"Moreover, it remains a space background for the artwork," the team added.

Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum and Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art was completed in 2021.

Project facts

Project name: Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum and Chengdu Contemporary Art Museum

Architects: CSD Design

Location: Chengdu, China

Design team: Can Zhang, Wenting Li, : Xiaohui Zhou, Wenjing Liu, Jun Tang, Boyu Wang, Yan Yang, Zeli Jiang, Pengchong Jiang, Yuting Guo, Shasha Mou, Guangchao Li

Client: Chengdu City Construction Investment & Management Group Co., Ltd

Site area: 75,000m2 

Building size: 37,558m2

Top image: Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum. Image © Ting Wang.

All images © Ting Wang.

> via Can Zhang

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