suzhou museum - pei partnership · pdf filesuzhou museum suzhou, china the new suzhou museum...

Pei PartnershiP architects suzhou Museum Suzhou, China The new Suzhou Museum is located in the northeast section of the historic quarter of Suzhou. It adjoins the landmarked Zhong Wang Fu, a complex of 19th-century historical structures, and the Garden of the Humble Administrator, a 16th-century garden listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. The design of the museum takes its cues from the rich vocabulary of Suzhou's traditional architecture, with its whitewashed plaster walls, dark grey clay tile roofs and intricate garden architecture. However these basic elements have been reinter- preted and synthesized into a new lan- guage and order, one that is contemporary and forward looking and hopefully one that is a possible direction for the future of Chinese modern architecture. As with traditional Suzhou architecture, the design of the Art Museum is organized around a series of gardens and courts that mediates between the building and its sur- rounding environment. The main Museum Garden is a contemporary extension and commentary of the Garden of the Humble Administrator to the north. As visual con- nections between the two properties are not possible due to the high garden walls, water is used physically and metaphorically as a bridge between the two properties. The landscape design of the new Museum Garden and its smaller Gallery and Administrative Gardens is not based on traditional and conventional approaches. Rather, new design directions and themes were sought for each of them, where the essence of traditional landscape design can be distilled and reformulated into potentially new directions for Chinese garden architecture. The Suzhou Museum opened to the public on October 6, 2006. Information 15,000-sq. meter art museum Major components include 5,000 sq. meters of exhibition space, 200-seat auditorium, administrative and cura- torial areas, study library, and exten- sive art collection storage facilities Architect I.M. Pei Architect with Pei Partnership Architects - -

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Pei PartnershiP architects

suzhou MuseumSuzhou, China

The new Suzhou Museum is located in the northeast section of the historic quarter of Suzhou. It adjoins the landmarked Zhong Wang Fu, a complex of 19th-century historical structures, and the Garden of the Humble Administrator, a 16th-cen-tury garden listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The design of the museum takes its cues from the rich vocabulary of Suzhou's tra-ditional architecture, with its whitewashed plaster walls, dark grey clay tile roofs and intricate garden architecture. However these basic elements have been reinter-preted and synthesized into a new lan-guage and order, one that is contemporary and forward looking and hopefully one that is a possible direction for the future of Chinese modern architecture.

As with traditional Suzhou architecture, the design of the Art Museum is organized around a series of gardens and courts that mediates between the building and its sur-rounding environment. The main Museum Garden is a contemporary extension and commentary of the Garden of the Humble Administrator to the north. As visual con-nections between the two properties are not possible due to the high garden walls, water is used physically and metaphorically as a bridge between the two properties.

The landscape design of the new Museum Garden and its smaller Gallery and Administrative Gardens is not based on traditional and conventional approaches. Rather, new design directions and themes were sought for each of them, where the essence of traditional landscape design can be distilled and reformulated into potentially new directions for Chinese gar-den architecture.

The Suzhou Museum opened to the public on October 6, 2006.

Information15,000-sq. meter art museumMajor components include 5,000 sq. meters of exhibition space, 200-seat auditorium, administrative and cura-torial areas, study library, and exten-sive art collection storage facilities

ArchitectI.M. Pei Architect with Pei Partnership Architects