Hasta La Ideas

Chinese architects MAD have sent us new images of a museum they completed earlier this year in the city of Ordos, in the Gobi desert.

Shaped like a large undulating blob, the Ordos Museum is clad in polished metal tiles that are resistant to frequently occurring sandstorms.

Galleries inside the museum are housed in smaller blobs, connected by bridges.

Entrances on both sides of the building allow local residents to use the atrium as a through-route.

You can watch a movie about the building here.

This isn’t the first high-profile project in Ordos, the newly constructed city for a million people – artist Ai Weiwei masterplanned 100 private villas by different architects there back in 2008 – see all our stories about the project here.

Photography is by Iwan Baan. More images of this project can be found on his website.

Here’s some more information from MAD:

MAD’s Ordos Museum Completes

Construction of the MAD designed Ordos Museum has recently been completed in fall 2011. Familiar yet distinct, the museum appears to have either landed in the desert from another world or to always have existed. From atop a dune- like urban plaza, the building is enriched with a convergence of naturalistic interiors, bathed in light. The result is a timeless architecture in a modern city of ruins.

Six years ago, the Inner Mongolia Ordos was an extended landscape of the majestic Gobi desert. Today, it is a urban centre mired in a common controversy in modern Chinese civilization: the conflict between the people’s long standing traditions and their dreams of the future. Architects are asked to develop the urban landscape and yet need to be mindful of the delicate sustenance of minority cultures and its future potentials. In 2005, the local bureaucrats established a new master plan for its city development. Upon the initialization of this master plan, MAD was commissioned by the Ordos city government to conceive a museum to be a centerpiece to the new great city.

Influenced by Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes, MAD envisioned a mysterious abstract form capable of fostering an alternate, timeless development of Chinese tradition and future. Whilst the surface of this shape functions as a metal container critical to protect the interior from the harsh winters and frequent sand storms of the region, metaphorically this external layer operates as a shield protecting the precious culture and history of the city from the unknown growth of the city. The museum appears to float over a waving sand hill, a gesture saluting the landscapes which have now been supplanted by the streets and buildings of the new cityscape. This plaza is now a favorite amongst the locals who gather their families and friends to explore, play or lounge in the pleasant landscape.

Entering the museum presents visitors with a strong contrast to the exterior: an airy monumental cave flushed with natural light through skylights. The cave links to a canyon which carves out a void between the galleries and exhibition hall and is brightly illuminated at the top. Patrons maneuver along the base of these primitive surroundings and through the light across mid-air tectonic bridges, reminiscent of the intersection of the past and the future of the Gobi landscape. Visitors will repeatedly cross these sky bridges and reflect upon their journey from a variety of picturesque vantages.

The local community, as well, is encouraged to pass through the base of the central canyon which connects the two public entries at opposite ends without entering the exhibition hall or galleries. The varying internalized flows of circulation are guided by a succession of light and shadow, at times mysteriously shaded and occasionally brilliantly bright yet consistently engaging.

For the museum employees, a south facing, naturally lit interior garden is shared by the office and research programmes of the museum, creating a natural work environment.

The completion of the museum has provided the local citizens a place to embrace and reflect upon the fast paced development of their city. People meet organically in the naturalistic landscapes of the museum, an intersection of natural and human development.


Location: Ordos, China Typology: Museum
Site Area: 27,760 sqm Building Area: 41, 227 sqm Building Height: 40 m

Directors: Ma Yansong, Yosuke Hayano, Dang Qun
Design Team: Shang Li, Andrew C. Bryant, Howard Jiho Kim, Matthias Helmreich, Linda Stannieder, Zheng Tao, Qin Lichao, , Sun Jieming, Yin Zhao, Du Zhijian, Yuan Zhongwei, Yuan Ta, Xie Xinyu, Liu Weiwei, Felipe Escudero, Sophia Tang, Diego Perez, Art Terry, Jtravis B Russett, Dustin Harris

Associate Engineers: China Institute of Building Standard Design & Research Mechanical Engineer: The Institute of Shanxi Architectural Design and Research
Façade/cladding Consultants: SuP Ingenieure GmbH, Melendez & Dickinson Architects Construction Contractor: Huhehaote construction Co., Ltd
Façade Contractor: Zhuhai King Glass Engineering CO.LTD

Découverte de Jonathan Leijonhufvud, un photographe spécialisé dans l’architecture. Né en Suède et ayant grandi en Chine, ce dernier parvient à magnifier les bâtiments et les paysages. Une sélection de ses clichés est à découvrir dans la suite de l’article.

Previously on Fubiz

• Japan Love Hotels
• Michael Levin
• Shanghai Museum of Glass

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Graphic artists modify imagery of the metropolis

Following an event in Hanoi earlier this year, Tiger Beer brought its free art and music series, Tiger Translate, to Beijing. The most recent installment brought together artists from East and West to collaborate on the theme of the metropolis. This time around, however, Tiger Translate tweaked the creative process and came up with “Double Vision,” for which four artists were each given photographs of Beijing to overlay with their graphic designs live during the Tiger Translate showdown.

Michael Paul Young, Mojoko, Marcie Liu and Shadow Chen worked alone and in teams to apply their signature designs to shots of the city’s iconic skyscrapers, landmarks and everyday street scenes. The results were wildly diverse, with some works exuding a comic book feel and others taking inspiration by the free form and colors of street art.

While the artists did get to preview the photos, they had to design on the fly, cut-and-paste-style. Each round lasted 20-30 minutes and audience members could watch the whole process go down on big screens. In all, almost a half-dozen images were produced for the event.

Tiger Translate’s next events will be in Manila on 18 November and Sydney on 23 November 2011. To see more images, check out the slideshow below.

From Shangai, mono and color.

Architect Li Xiaodong has completed a library in China that’s covered in firewood.

Located on the outskirts of Beijing, the single-storey Liyuan Library houses its collection of books within a chunky timber frame.

Stepped platforms integrate low level shelves and provide seating areas for readers.

The sticks cover a glazed shell that encases the library.

We’ve also featured a library in Japan with an exterior of timber bookshelves covered by glass and another in Germany with a golden facade – see more stories about libraries here.

Photography is by Li Xiaodong

Here’s some more text from Li Xiaodong:

Liyuan Library

This project is modest addition to the small village of Huairou on the outskirts of Beijing, just under a two hours drive from busy Beijing urban life.

On the one hand it forms a modern programmatic complement to the village by adding a small library and reading space within a setting of quiet contemplation. On the other hand we wanted to use architecture to enhance the appreciation of the natural landscaping qualities.

So instead of adding a new building inside the village center, we chose this particular site in the nearby mountains, a pleasant five minute walk from the village center. In doing so we could provide a setting of clear thoughts when one consciously takes the effort to head for the reading room.

Because of the overwhelming beauty of the surrounding nature our intervention is modest in its outward expression. We can’t compete with nature’s splendor. The building blends into the landscape through the delicate choice of materials and the careful placement of the building volume. Especially the choice of material is crucial in blending with the regional characteristics. After analyzing the local material characteristics in the village we found large amounts of locally sourced wooden sticks piled around each house. The villagers gather these sticks all year round to fuel their cooking stoves. Thus we decided to use this ordinary material in an extraordinary way, cladding the building in familiar textures in a way that is strikingly sensitive.

The inside of the building has a very expressive character though; its interior is spatially diverse by using steps and small level changes to create distinct places. It frames views towards the surrounding landscape and acts as an embracing shelter. The building is fully glazed to allow for a fully daylight space. The wooden sticks temper the bright light and spread it evenly throughout the space to provide for a perfect reading ambience.

Architect: Li Xiaodong/Atelier
Team: Li Xiaodong; Liu Yayun; Huang Chenwen; Pan Xi
Location: Jiaojiehe village, Huairou county, Beijing, China
Floor area: 175 sqm
Client: Jiaojiehe village
Construction period: Mar 2011 – Oct 2011

See also:

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University Library by Sou Fujimoto Architects	Livraria de Vila by Isay Weinfeld Arquitecto	Book Mountain by MVRDV