A MUSEUM DEDICATED TO THE HISTORY OF THE CITY INSPIRED BY THE LOCAL FURNACES
Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum, Jiangxi, China
Zhu-Pei Studio
The Imperial Kiln Museum was built alongside the remains of an ancient furnace. The project was designed by Zhu-Pei, in collaboration with the Architectural Design and Research Institute at the University of Tsinghua. The layout is articulated in eight vaulted forms that expand across the site with a horizontality that is in strong contrast to the vertical tension of the surroundings. The section of each volume reveals a division in two storeys. The first floor, at the level of the city, contains exhibition spaces, an auditorium, a bookshop and a tea room. The second level, almost entirely below ground level, is animated by internal courtyards that bring light into these spaces. The project appears to pursue two principal objectives: rediscovering the cultural roots of Jingdezhen and involving visitors by presenting them the most modern and contemporary advancements in museography and museology. Hence, the morphology of the architecture recalls that of the ancient furnaces.
