Bronze Architecture · 2020
Wenzhou Urban Wetland Museum
by Paul Bo Peng
- Bronze A' Design Award 2020 in Architecture
- CLIENT: Iapa
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 17,743
- Verification code 6CE429A690 · Verify this award
Colors
About Wenzhou Urban Wetland Museum
Wenzhou Urban Wetland is a museum located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The building stands at the heart of a wetland area in the centre of the city. The main body of the museum is elevated, so the wetlands pass beneath it, and a boat tour area is provided. The layout of the exhibition halls follows the courtyard spaces of local dwellings. Changes in level let the lower wetland landscape blend into the upper courtyards. A roof garden forms a further layer. The building area is 20000 square metres.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Wenzhou Urban Wetland Museum is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Wenzhou Urban Wetland Museum is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Wenzhou Urban Wetland Museum splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The project is experimenting with different methods of spatial organization, embedding floating architectural elements which re-appropriates the most classical Chinese architectural/landscape typologies such as courtyard typology, Chinese garden typology, nature parks and figure/ground relationship and mixes it with contemporary architectural language. The output creates a series of inter-mingling spaces taking the visitor to different levels of interiority/exteriority.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Building area 20000㎡
- Tags
- Culture, architecture, museum, public spaces
- Production Technology
- For the site design, the organic form was inspired by the natural texture of the wetlands. The design follows the natural wetland landscape - we elevate the main body of the building and let the wetlands pass through the empty space, to form a unique wetland experience with a boat tour area. The spatial layout of the exhibition hall is inspired by the courtyard space layout of the local dwellings. Through the difference in elevations, the lower wetland landscape blends into the upper courtyard space. The roof garden follows the height of the exhibition hall and is added to form a wetland layer, an exhibition hall layer – forming a rich interpretation of the three-dimensional space on the roof garden level.
- Design Challenge
- The most challenging aspect of the design process was to transform the wetland museum into an ecological building that harmonizes the flow between humanity and nature, whilst simultaneously maintaining both characteristics.
- Research
- From the culture and natural environment of Zhejiang, we extracted the traditional residential design elements that symbolize the signature architectural characteristics of the region. The floating boat market symbolizes people and culture and the textural elements of the design symbolizes the natural characteristics of the wetlands. The layout of the residential houses retains and strengthen the style and scale of traditional residential courtyard spaces. These houses combine with the water boat market and the wetlands to form a natural and friendly building place with local characteristics.
- Inspiration
- The project is located in the city of Wenzhou, China. The wetlands occupy the heart of the city, dividing it into two different zones. The concept of the design is based on the idea of having a cultural place for different groups of people to meet and connect, bridging the past and the present. The main concept is based on redefining the primordial relationship between landscape and architecture.
- Project Duration
- The project is located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China, and was completed in 2017.
- Operation Flow
- The Wetland Museum is centered at the heart of the wetlands and radiates throughout the entire city. The site is located thirty minutes’ drive from central urban areas. The accessibility of the museum will allow it to become another important public expo-building in Wenzhou.
- Image Credits
- Paul Bo Peng
