Steven Holl, Nanjing Sifang Art Museum, China

“The Garden of Diversion” is the exhibition marking the official opening of Nanjing Sifang Art Museum, designed by architects Steven Holl and Li Hu.
The museum is part of Cipea (China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture), an urban planning project with the involvement of both Chinese architects and prominent international architects.

Steven Holl’s building pays homage to traditional Chinese painting, in which the illusion of depth and three-dimensionality is created not through perspective, as in western painting, but by overlapping different planes. In the same way, the museum appears to be built out of a "field" of parallel perspective planes. A black cement wall made using bamboo formworks forms a base for the white gallery above it. The gallery suspended in the void is rotated to offer visitors panoramic views of the city of Nanjing. The building’s use of black and white links it with ancient Chinese paintings even while drawing attention to the texture and colours of the works on display.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Steven Holl Architects, (design architect) Steven Holl, Li Hu
Location: Nanjing, China
Images courtesy of Steven Holl Architects, ph. Iwan Baan, Shu He

www.stevenholl.com

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