Description: he original structure of the National Arts Museum of China (NAMOC) built in 1962, houses one of the country’s largest art collections and has played host to some of the influential exhibitions as recorded in contemporary Chinese history. The current plans are to move the institution into a new building, situated within a designated ‘art district’ on the central axis of the 2008 Olympic site. Answering to an international invited competition to design a new home for NAMOC, studio Pei Zhu’s proposal is city-sized institution where the inclusion of public space is emphasized. Part of a larger six volume master plan, the concept combines an elevated public square which is protected by a mega volume floating above. The museum is organized into three layers, where programs are divided by each level.

The elevated ground floor is a public space that operates independently from the museum in off hours. Above it, a floating 20,000 square meter urban plaza program acts as the main gallery for permanent art collections and exhibitions. As part of the design team I was responsible for the modeling the museum’s shell and for the development of design schemes considering the circulation of the central atrium of the museum, which plays out as the main hub of the proposal.