Pudong’s Lujiazui, an iconic postcard perfect city center of glittering objects, the triumph of Chinese urban development. It no longer needs more objects to be exciting. Instead, it urgently calls for attention to people’s real need, and the return of nature in the concrete jungle.
Imagine a park that shelters natural inhabitants, including ourselves-–for we also need art, to enlighten our wondering souls.
Therefore, on the last vacant parcel of land at the tip of Lujiazui, on the axis that connects Oriental Pearl Tower to the People’s Park in the distant old city, we envision a place where Art meets Nature. This was the beginning of a brand new museum concept.
Conventional notions and images of an art museum are reinterpreted as multiple layers of interwoven art and nature, forming a unique place that expands horizontally like landforms. These layers offer a refreshing experience for museum-goers, and new possibilities for art curators. With multiple ways of circulating between the different programs inside the building, whether walking up the slow-rising stepped ramp, or taking the short-cut by escalators through worm-hole like openings, visitors' experiences are always alternating between art, social space, gardens, and forests. The stunning city views have been carefully woven into the visitors’ circulation in and out the building.
Whether looking from faraway or from inside, the art gallery is a park, and the park is filled with art and joy-–celebrating a new beginning of the city where art, nature and humanity merge seamlessly in this new art museum.
