Atelier Deshaus has realized the Long Museum West Bund, a building located in earlier parking, which was formerly a Coal-Hopper-Unloading-Bridge and, through the mechanism referred to as "vault-umbrella" get open large exhibition spaces to turn it into a museum without losing the previous essence.
Description of the project by Atelier Deshaus
Long Museum West Bund is located at the bank of Huangpu River, Xuhui District, Shanghai Municipality, the site of which was used as the wharf for coal transportation. Before the commencement of the design, a Coal-Hopper-Unloading-Bridge of about 110m in length, 10m in width and 8m in height, which was constructed in the 1950s, remained with two-storey underground parking completed as early as two years ago.
The new design adopts the cantilever structure featuring a “vault-umbrella” with independent walls while the shear walls with a free layout are embedded into the original basement so as to be concreted with the original framework structure. With the shear walls, the first underground floor of the original parking has been transformed into an exhibition space with the overground space highlighting multiple orientations because of the relative connection of the “vault-umbrella” in different directions; besides, the electrical & mechanical system has been integrated into the “vault-umbrella” structure.
As to the overground space covered by the “vault-umbrella”, the walls and the ceiling feature as-cast-finish concrete surface so that their geometrical dividing line seems faint. Such structure cannot only shield the human body in conformation but visually echoes with the Coal-Hopper-Unloading-Bridge at the wharf. Moreover, the building’s internal space can also represent a kind of primordial and tameless charm while the spatial dimension, large or small, and the as-cast-finish concrete surface with the seam among moulding boards and the bolt holes bring a sense of reality as well.
The directness and simplicity resulting from this “literal” structure, material and space plus the sense of force or lightness because of the large-scale overhanging style enable the overall building’s continuation of the industrial property of the original site, not only in time but in space.
The flowing exhibition space under the overground as-cast-finish concrete “vault-umbrella” and the “white box” exhibition space on the first underground floor are connected with spiral ladders downward. The parallel tensility highlights the space, primordial but realistic, and the art exhibition from the ancient, modern and contemporary periods, has displayed an exhibition space featuring temporality.
