GAM – Art Museum Guangzhou

The main orientation of the Museum is along a diagonal to the south and the west, to
the sun and to a large new inner park. The northern and the eastern side are rather
closed. They serve as a back against the emissions of the adjacent heavy traffic of the
city. Surrounding water serves for adiabatic cooling. The vegetation creates ideal
microclimatic and spatial conditions. Sunken courtyards with bamboo bring daylight
and natural ventilation to the underground levels.
The double curved skin serves as a frame for the building and allows moderate light
targeting. The suspended façade is a rearventilated “dress” for the building. Balconies
between the façade levels offer the visitors views towards the park. Semi-transparent
umbrellas printed with reflecting material shade the façades.
A cylindrical, about 40m high, central room is ideally lit with daylight through a central,
glassed roof opening with integrated sun reflecting light grids.
The surface of the large, ventilated, elegantly curved roof, which can be seen as a
“fifth façade” from surrounding high-rise buildings and the look-out tower, serves as a
PV-layer for shading as well as for electricity production (ca. 10 MV peak).
At the inside of the building a variety of separations grants spatial variability in
combination with radial and circular routing and thus a flexible room layout for the
individual areas of the exhibition space depending on the different requirements.
Shopping areas are located on two underground levels with technical equipment,
comprehensive storage facilities and visitor car parks.