On a bridge. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ
15/05/2019.
[Qiangzhou - Jishou - Hunan] China
metalocus, MARÍA REDONDO
metalocus, MARÍA REDONDO
Atelier FCJZ design the Jishou Art Museum in Qiangzhou Historic Town. The museum becomes a bridge that crosses the Wanrong River to be easily accessible to both areas of the city. The purpose of the project is for people to find art in the journeys of their daily lives.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ. Photograph by FangFang Tian.
Fengyu Qiao. Image courtesy of Atelier FCJZ.
Site plan. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Level 1 plan. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Level 2 plan. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Level 3 plan. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Sections. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Elevations. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
Axonometric. Jishou Art Museum by Atelier FCJZ.
The Atelier FCJZ project is composed of two overlapping bridges. The lower level, with a steel structure, allows the flow of people while the upper level, being a concrete arch, has a gallery of paint inside.
Description of project by Atelier FCJZ
A Social Cause
The city of Jishou, where the Jishou Art Museum is located, is the regional capital of Xiangxi (western Hunan), a minority autonomous zone. Initially, the municipal government considered parcels of lands in the development zone outside the city; however, we the architects proposed to build the art museum in the center of the old town because we believed that a cultural facility should be easily accessible. A river called Wanrong runs through the middle of Jishou, which makes the most central location for the art museum over the water course and the art museum then doubles as a pedestrian bridge naturally. We hope that people in Jishou would not only make a special trip to see art but will also encounter art on their way to work, to school, or to shop.
Urban Intervention
Typical contemporary cultural institutions in China, such as museums and theaters, are treated as freestanding monuments, from away from the communities. In Jishou, since we think an art museum should not be isolated from its users, it is inserted into the existing urban fabric, which is built up with row buildings along the Wanrong River that house shops, restaurants, bed-&-breakfests, often with owners living upstairs. Therefore, the front entrances of the Jishou Art Museum on both riverbanks are part of the mixed-use street walls and integrated into the everyday life.
Reinterpretation of Tradition
Covered bridge has a long tradition in this mountainous region of China and named Fengyu Qiao, meaning wind-and-rain bridge, which is not only used for crossing river or valley but a public space where travellers take a rest and vendors set up stands. Our design creates a contemporary interpretation of the age-honored building type. We introduced art as a new program on a covered bridge while maintaining pedestrian traffic and stop meanwhile translating the formal language of the Fengyu Qiao into a modern one.
A Bridge-Building
The art museum is composed of two bridges, one on the top of the other. The lower level is an open steel truss structure that resembles a roofed street for pedestrians and allows the flow of floods ; the upper level is a concrete arch cast in-situ with a painting gallery inside. In between the two bridges, glazed walls and tiled shading system enclose the art museum's main hall for temporary exhibitions.
Supplementary spaces to the art museum, such as the entrance hall, administrative office, shop, and tearoom, are situated in the two bridgeheads at either end. People can enter the museum from either side of the river.
Jishou Art Museum is the outcome of artist Mr. Huang Yongyu’s initiation and donation, completed in April 2019 and will have its opening exhibition in the summer.
More information
Architects
Architects.- Atelier FCJZ. Architect in Charge.- Yung Ho Chang, Lijia Lu
Design Team
Xiaoning Liang, Pu Yang, Kunpeng Liu, Siqi Su, Gang Rao
Collaborators
Structural Design Consultant.- Qiang Chang
Area
3535.4 m²
Date
2019
Location
Qiangzhou Historic Town, Jishou, Hunan, China
Yung Ho Chang
Yung Ho Chang is Principal Architect at Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, a professor at Tongji University, and a professor and the former Head of the Architecture Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Originally from Beijing and educated both in China and in the US, Chang received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1984. He has been practicing in China since 1992 and established Atelier Feichang Jianzhu (FCJZ) in 1993, with Lijia Lu.
He has been the recipient of numerous awards, including First Place in the Shinkenchiku Residential Design Competition in 1987, a Progressive Architecture Citation Award in 1996, the 2000 UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts, and the Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2006.
Together with FCJZ, he has published eight books and monographs, including Yung Ho Chang / Atelier Feichang Jianzhu: A Chinese Practice and Yung Ho Chang: Luce chiara, camera oscura.
He has participated in the Venice Biennale five times (first in 2000), among several other international exhibitions of art and architecture. He has taught at architecture schools across the US and China, was a professor and founding head of the Graduate Center of Architecture at Peking University (1999-2005), and held the Kenzo Tange Chair at Harvard University (2002) and the Eliel Saarinen Chair at the University of Michigan (2004). In 2011 he became a Pritzker Prize Jury member.
In the past two decades, Atelier FCJZ has always believed in the value and craft of design while emphasizing research and methodology. Today, FCJZ is a multi-disciplinary practice whose outputs range from community to jewelry.
FCJZ received the Progressive Architecture Citation in 1996 for a hillside housing project in Southern China, a WA China Architecture Award in 2004 and a Business Week / Architectural Record China Award in 2006 for Villa Shizilin. Abroad, FCJZ held solo exhibitions of its work at Apex Art in New York in 1999, Harvard University in 2002, Chambers Gallery in 2005, and MIT in 2007. They were also invited to create an installation in the central court at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum in 2008. The firm has participated in numerous international art and architecture exhibitions and biennials, such as Cities on the Move in Vienna, London, New York, and Denmark; and three times at the Guangju Biennale since 1997. Products and architectural models by FCJZ are in the permanent collection at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Art Museum of China.
