Gold Lighting Products and Fixtures Design · 2022
Xu Wei Art Museum
by Lighting Design Institute of UAD
- A' Design Award 2022 Gold Winner in Lighting Products and Fixtures Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: LightingDesignInstitute of UAD
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 68,296
- Verification code 88B95E7963 · Verify this award
About Xu Wei Art Museum
Xu Wei is a lighting design for an art museum in Shaoxing, a Chinese city with a history of 2,500 years. The museum stands within an old residential quarter, so the lighting is kept low-key and calm. L-shaped light troughs and linear wall washing fixtures are hidden on the facades to brighten the walls evenly. Faint light marks the bronze statue of the artist, and tree shadows fall along the corridor. The square is lit at a moderate level, and hidden projection allows different scenes for public cultural events.
LIGHTING DESIGN INSTITUTEof UAD's Art Museum stands as an exemplary achievement in contemporary cultural architecture, synthesizing regional building traditions with advanced lighting technology to create a luminous civic landmark that activates the urban realm during evening hours. The design appears to draw upon East Asian architectural heritage, particularly the sweeping rooflines and layered spatial progression characteristic of historic temple and pavilion typologies, yet reinterprets these formal vocabularies through contemporary materials and illumination strategies that transform the building into what might be termed a lantern for culture. The perforated screen system wrapping the curved gallery wings demonstrates remarkable technical accomplishment, functioning simultaneously as environmental mediator, visual filter, and luminous surface that appears to glow from within like a translucent membrane. The central entrance volume commands attention through its dramatic peaked profile and the sophisticated interplay of backlit vertical elements that create depth and visual interest while signaling the threshold between public plaza and interior exhibition spaces. The integrated lighting approach reveals careful consideration of multiple viewing distances and temporal conditions, with the warm linear banding at grade level inviting pedestrian approach while the overall facade composition reads powerfully from considerable distance. The thoughtful inclusion of mature trees within the forecourt softens the architectural geometry and creates dialogue between cultivated nature and built form, a relationship enhanced by the theatrical uplighting that transforms these organic elements into sculptural presences. Viewers might contemplate how this architecture embodies aspirations for cultural institutions as civic gathering places that extend their presence and invitation into the nighttime hours.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Layered expressions of distinct building materials create a proper proportion betweenvirtualityand reality, coldness and warmth, and a sense of depth of "distant and close views" of Xu Wei's ink wash painting, reproducing the purity and clearness of black and white Chinese traditional paintings. Restraining yet precise lighting highlights the night atmosphere and appreciation value of architecture and setting, balancing the relationship between light and architecture, environmentand people.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Xu Wei Art Museum: above-ground area: 5,155.5square meters, underground area: 2,841.7square meters, total: 7,997.2square meters
Type:Art Museum
Urban night scene lighting specification - Tags
- Qingteng Study, The Architectural Design & Research Institute of Zhejiang University, Xu Wei, Art Museum, Exhibition Hall, Lighting Design
- Production Technology
- L-shaped lamp trough is hidden on the facade, and linear wall washing lamp is also concealed to brighten the wall.Tree shadows in the corridor separated from the old town create a poetic ambience, with a touch of sadness.Faint lighting illuminates the bronze statue of Xu Wei and the paintbrush in his hand.The brightness of the square is proper, leaving a tranquilvibe for the viewing platform. The square is an urban public space, and hidden projection offers possibilities for distinct scenes.
- Design Challenge
- The project is located in the residential area of the ancient city and undertakes the functions of urban public cultural space and civic activity square. It uses light in a restraining yet precise manner, to highlight the night atmosphere and appreciation value of architecture and surroundings, and to show the charm of architecture and a sense of depth of "distant and close views" of Xu Wei's ink wash painting. It balances the relationship between lighting and architecture, landscape and people.
- Project Duration
- Start:2020.9.30
Completed:2021.4.30
Location:Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province - Operation Flow
- The overall low-key and elegant night view of the art museumharmonizes with the ancient city that has a history of 2,500 years,and integrates with the surrounding community and residents. Comfortable night sceneryand atmosphere createa rest and leisure space for both citizens and tourists. The art museum serves as apublic space in the city, and hidden projectionprovides different scene modes for various cultural activities.
- Research
- The design team conducted in-depth research on Xu Wei's life and artistic ideals, and alsodug into local culture. The artist's personal temperament, artistic ideal and local urban aesthetic characteristics of white walls and gray tiles are blended into design techniques. In the design, Building Information Modelling (BIM), DIALux illumination calculation, on-site lamp test and demonstration are adopted for repeated calculations and tests to ensure the lighting effect.
- Inspiration
- Xu Wei is a great Chinese painting and calligraphy artist. The art museum is a transformation of Xu Wei's former residence, located in Shaoxing with a history of 2,500 years. It mixes with local decent houses called Tai Men. The architecture humbly blends into the environment, like a landscape painting. The low-key lighting techniquesform a transparent, uniform and exquisiteeffect on the facades. Special interpretation modeis created to meet urban public cultural and artistic functions.
- Image Credits
- LIGHTING DESIGN INSTITUTE of UAD, Jia Fang Architectural Photography Studio, Jonathan Leijonhufvud
Colors of Xu Wei Art Museum
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