Two 100-year-old German warehouses in Wuhan, China, central China’s most populous city, will be conjoined to create a 150,000-sf Metro Museum. The new building will use 75,000 sf of the site for the museum while 64,000 sf will be for commercial use, including restaurants, a café, and a gift shop.
One of the museums entrances will be underground inside the Line 7 Metro Station. Escalators will provide visitors entering via this entrance with views of each museum floor through incased glass as they ascend to the top of the four-level museum. The museum’s focal point is a tunnel-boring machine used to excavate metro tunnels. The boring machine extends two floors and is visible through floor-to-ceiling windows outside of the building. A circular ramp allows visitors to gain a close-up view of the parts and details of the machine.
Rendering courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
Once arriving at the fourth floor, guests will walk through a Visitor’s Center where they can explore the museum’s cabinet of curiosities (small collections of objects) as they descend an atria spiral staircase from the top floor to the ground floor. The ground level includes restaurants, a sculpture garden, and an auditorium.
“Our goal was to optimize the space to function as both a place of curiosity and socialization, with multiple revenue streams for the museum. Generating revenue beyond the admission fee is critical to the fiscal health of museums today,” says Rodney Abney, Principal of GreenbergFarrow, in a release.
Rendering courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
The new museum will become the largest and most comprehensive Metro Museum in China. It is expected to cost $40.8 million and open in September 2019.
Rendering courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
Rendering courtesy of GreenbergFarrow.
Related Stories
| Feb 14, 2014
Crowdsourced Placemaking: How people will help shape architecture
The rise of mobile devices and social media, coupled with the use of advanced survey tools and interactive mapping apps, has created a powerful conduit through which Building Teams can capture real-time data on the public. For the first time, the masses can have a real say in how the built environment around them is formed—that is, if Building Teams are willing to listen.
| Feb 13, 2014
Extreme Conversion: Nazi bunker transformed into green power plant, war memorial
The bunker, which sat empty for over 60 years after WWII, now uses sustainable technology and will provide power to about 4,000 homes.
| Jan 30, 2014
How reverse engineering nature can spur design innovation
It’s not enough to copy nature. Today’s designers need a deeper understanding of environmental nuance, from the biome in.
| Jan 28, 2014
16 awe-inspiring interior designs from around the world [slideshow]
The International Interior Design Association released the winners of its 4th Annual Global Excellence Awards. Here's a recap of the winning projects.
| Jan 28, 2014
Big Ten Conference opens swanky HQ and museum [slideshow]
The new mixed-use headquarters includes a museum, broadcast studios, conference facilities, office spaces, and, oh yeah, a Brazilian steakhouse.
| Jan 13, 2014
Custom exterior fabricator A. Zahner unveils free façade design software for architects
The web-based tool uses the company's factory floor like "a massive rapid prototype machine,” allowing designers to manipulate designs on the fly based on cost and other factors, according to CEO/President Bill Zahner.
| Jan 11, 2014
Getting to net-zero energy with brick masonry construction [AIA course]
When targeting net-zero energy performance, AEC professionals are advised to tackle energy demand first. This AIA course covers brick masonry's role in reducing energy consumption in buildings.
| Dec 30, 2013
Calatrava facing legal action from his home town over crumbling cultural complex
Officials with the city of Valencia, Spain, are blaming Santiago Calatrava for the rapid deterioration of buildings within its City of Arts and Sciences complex.
| Dec 19, 2013
Mastering the art of crowd control and visitor flow in interpretive facilities
To say that visitor facility planning and design is challenging is an understatement. There are many factors that determine the success of a facility. Unfortunately, visitor flow, the way people move and how the facility accommodates those movements, isn’t always specifically considered.
| Dec 13, 2013
Safe and sound: 10 solutions for fire and life safety
From a dual fire-CO detector to an aspiration-sensing fire alarm, BD+C editors present a roundup of new fire and life safety products and technologies.
