The Pingtan Art Museum by MAD Architects Will Be An Island On An Island

The largest private museum in China will only be accessible by a narrow, undulating bridge that sticks out into the sea.

by Chloe Jones

July 15, 2013, 2:10pm

From the architects who brought the world a pair of twisting skyscrapers and an icicle-shaped museum just for wooden sculptures—oh, and an LED-encrusted ring-shaped hotel—comes a new museum in the Fujian province of China. The Pingtan Art Museum is Beijing-based MAD Architects' third museum, but it is their first island. Designed as an artificial island attached to the greater island of Pingtan, the construction area of the site reaches over 40,000 square meters. It will be the largest private museum in Asia, home to over 1,000 Chinese artworks.

Pingtan, the closest island to Taiwan, is expected to become the nexus of commercial and cultural trade between Taiwan and the mainland in coming years. The island will undoubtably see major changes as it transforms into a large-scale urban development zone. At the heart of all this change, the MAD Pingtan Art Museum will form the center of this new city.

Visitors will cross a narrow, undulating pier to get from Pingtan to the artificial island on which the museum sits. Once across they will enter the three cave-like exhibition spaces of the museum. When viewed from the outside these caves look like dunes—three white knolls rising up out of the sea. The curved tops of the dunes serve as a public green space on which visitors can stroll and enjoy the landscape. Architects plan to mix local sand and shells into the concrete, texturing the walls of this waterside museum. According to the architects, "The sea, the beach, the oasis and the slope all interconnect with each other, forming a harmonious capacious space with the mountains in the distance." The Pingtan Art Museum is a synthesis of disparate terrains and disparate concepts. It is a private museum with a public space, a tribute to art history with a futuristic vibe, and an artificial island with a natural aesthetic. The relationship between architecture and nature has always been of interest to MAD Architects, and their work frequently makes use of powerful natural forms. Be it an apartment complex that resembles a mountain rage or a museum that forms its own island, nature is at play in their bold and beautiful designs. In the words of Ma Yansong, founder of MAD Architects, "The relationship between architecture and nature is a wholeness you can't separate."