This proposal for MoCA/PE creates a world-class institution which is characterized by both its response to its local environment but also by its formal and structural elegance. The project embraces the concept of the northern part of the Futian Center District as a traditional Chinese courtyard space. In order to bound and intensify the monumental scale of this courtyard, the building massing is designed as a mirror reflection of the L-shaped YAH building. This move creates a defining corner for the urban space.
A Garden Plaza is located in the void created by the L-shape, which serves as a meeting point and gateway to the cultural delights offered inside the new building. It is spatially defined on all sides by topography, plantings, furniture, and the Plaza Roof, creating a highly specific and integrated environment. The Plaza Roof offers shade, while plant-life and water features cool the air underneath based on principals of natural convection and evaporative cooling, creating a high-performance urban microclimate. This space is a lush and tropical atmosphere including public amenities such as gift shops, bookstores, and cafes, allowing museum visitors sanctuary from the stresses of city life.
Organizational Concept
The design is based on integrating the MoCA and Planning Exhibition programs into a single unified project with a distinct presence in the city. Unification of the programs allows for a greater efficiency due to reduction of redundant circulation and public amenity spaces. All of the exhibition space for both programs is located in loft-like spaces in the L-shaped volume. These are open-plan spaces with high clear ceiling heights which can be reconfigured easily as exhibits change. Support spaces for these exhibition spaces, including administrative spaces, the PE Library, and a restaurant looking down at the Graden Plaza, are all located in this part of the building as well.
A crystalline Foyer connects these levels together via escalators and elevators. This Foyer acts as an environmental buffer between the Garden Plaza outside and the more controlled exhibition spaces, in terms of temperature, humidity, noise, and light levels.
Design Concept
The design of MoCA/PE is based on structural morphologies found in nature, both in terms of their aesthetic and performative characteristics. Specifically, lilypads were examined for their biomathematical logic which includes a network of deep veins which support their wide diameters. Although lilypads float naturally on water, their overall stability is determined by the depth, number, and distribution of these veins. The building structure similarily spreads over architectural surfaces according to force flows, driven by a rule-based system of branching and computational subdivision.
Ultimately, the morphology of veining and structural surface relief can be understood as a semi-monocoque construction. The semi-monocoque, often found in aerospace and automobile construction, is based on the skin as structure, but utilizes stiffening ribs and bending members as needed to keep the strength-to-weight ratio optimized. The variable, composite sensibility of semi-monocoque construction offers an alternative to dogmatic frame and skin alternatives.
Cost Estimating services provided by Davis Langdon Adamson
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