KSP Jürgen Engel Wins Competition for New Shenzhen Art Museum and Library

KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten has won an international competition for the new Shenzhen Art Museum and Library. Selected over schemes by Steven Holl, Mecanoo, OMA, and others, the winning project takes the shape as three “elements” – an art museum, library and archive, and new “Culture Plaza” – united by a “stone podium.”

“The main concept behind the design was to create a space that brings together art, culture, and an urban environment – a space where people and culture are encouraged to interact,” says the architects.

“The Museum of Modern Art has different-size spaces, in which art can be displayed across an exhibition area that covers approximately 15,000-square-meters and extends over no less than three levels. Visitors to the museum can take staircases and escalators to the top. Terraces set back such that they resemble a cascade make it easy to find one’s way around the building, and at the same time afford a spectacular view of the ‘Culture Plaza’ and the city.

“The library, whose footprint, like that of the museum, measures 80 by 80 meters, features a four-story reading room with nearly 1,000 desks and a large skylight that floods it with natural daylight. The archive is located in the podium and on the basement levels.

“In addition to the podium and the plaza, the museum roof, which projects up to 66 meters, and the uniform facade material (matt glass) help underscore the coherent character of the ensemble. For reasons relating to thermal properties and building physics, the inner layer of the facade is solid, so as to prevent the sun heating the building up.”

Architects: KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten
Location: Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Developer: Shenzhen Art Museum, Shenzhen Library
Load Bearing Structure: Weiske + Partner GmbH, Stuttgart, Dr.-Ing. Ulrich Breuninger
Energy Concept: Office for Sustainable Built Environment Engineering (OSBEE) GmbH, Dr. Dirk Schwede, Stuttgart and Energydesign, Shanghai, China
Area: 74000.0 sqm
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten