Elevated from the street against a backdrop of pristine mountains, lingering clouds, and misty fog, the museum appears as a large rock formation that unfolds gradually in front of visitors.
The deliberate long approach to the museum that intrigued by the narrow streets of the nearby village with their odd angles and turns- curiously evokes the feeling of tension and mild expectation of what will be waiting at the end.
Site: Dapeng Peninsula is situated in the southern coastal part of China, across the bay northeasterly from Hong Kong and it lies in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The peninsula created by ancient volcano eruptions dating back 135 million years, has retained one of the pristine beaches, hills, and mountains in China. As the winning project from an international competition organised by the city of Shenzhen in 2008, the site and the client’s desire are complex, especially, deriving from a different cultural understanding of “nature”.
Inspired by the unspoiled nature adorned with intriguing rock formations, the Chinese central government designated the peninsula as a “Geological Park,” to include a museum for the public and an institutional facility for guest researchers amidst a preserved nature setting. Further, the client wishes for the project site to be designated as one of the UNESCO natural world heritage sites, highlighting their preservation effort. The scope and the scale of the project conflicts with this desire, and therefore called for a creative resolution to reconcile nature and the man-made without compromising the design integrity.