Pause City by Thomas Chee

Pause City Chee King Hei Thomas | MArch 1| 14-15 Tutor | Peter Winston Ferretto

Museum of Contemporary Chinese Art

Work's of Zhan Wang The diagram on the right is a catalogue of major art works done by contemporary Chinese artist Zhan Wang. Starting from the 1980s, Zhan Wang has completed more than 200 art works, with the majority in form of sculptures. Different from many others sculptors, Zhan Wang invented his own way of making art. He produced numerous stainless steel stones, upon which his international fame established, by hammering sheets of thin stainless steel onto chosen stones and weld them together afterwards. During the process, Zhan Wang has not stopped exploring new ways of representation and issues that might raise his interest. Most recently, he completed the art work "My Persoal Universe" with more the 8,000 stainless steel stone fragments generated from the explosion of a giant rock, making the art as the most complicated, time-consuming and expensive one of him up to now.

/ empty soul empty temptation S : various human sizes Y : 1994 L : beijing M: composite material

/ floating rock and fishy play S : 3200 x 2500 x 2600 Y : 1997 L : he xiangning art museum, shenzhen M: stainless steel

/ no.2 S : 1750 x 1200 x 900 Y : 1996 L : art museum of capital normal university, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.6 S : 1900 x 1500 x 700 Y : 1997 L : watarium, tokyo M: stainless steel

/ urban landscapes S : various sizes Y : 2007 L : various locations M: stainless steel

/ no.43 S : 3200 x 1100 x 1250 Y : 2001 L : beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.5 S : 1620 x 400 x 400 Y : 1996 L : nanyin building, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.13 S : 1830 x 1150 x 920 Y : 1999 L: M: stainless steel

/no.59 S : 4500 x 2000 x 2400 Y : 2003 L : shanghai / london M: stainless steel

/ no.46 S : 7200 x 1800 x 1500 Y : 2002 L : shiodome city center, tokyo M: stainless steel

/ no.27 S : 1850 x 1600 x 500 Y : 2000 L : oriental plaza mall, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.29 S : 2100 x 1290 x 700 Y : 2001 L : beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.28 S : 1930 x 1150 x 500 Y : 2001 L : san francisco M: stainless steel

/ no.30 S : 1500 x 1730 x 1380 Y : 2001 L : busan museum of modern art, korea M: stainless steel

/ streets S : human size Y : 1988 L : beijing M: oulopholite

/ no.1 S : 600 x 500 x 800 Y : 1995 L : sanlitun, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.10 S : 750 x 450 x 190 Y : 1999 L: M: stainless steel

/ sitting girl S : 1150 x 545 x 1300 Y : 1990 L: M: painted bronze

/ no.3 S : 860 x 350 x 1070 Y : 1997 L : sculptural institute, shenzhen M: stainless steel, glass

/ no.19 S : 530 x 430 x 420 Y : 2001 L: M: stainless steel

/ no.4 S: Y : 1997 L : smart museum of art, chicago M: stainless steel

/ no.62 S : 350 x 260 x 260 Y : 2003 L : mount everest, +6000m M: stainless steel

/ my personal universe S : various sizes Y : 2011 L : ullens center for contemporary art, beijing M: stainless steel

/ suyuan stone generator S : 10000 x 2500 x 4800 Y : 2010 L : today art museum, beijing M: mixed media

/ no.31 S : 2300 x 1500 x 900 Y : 2001 L : peking university, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.36 S: Y : 2001 L : west lake, hangzhou M: stainless steel

/ no.64 S : 350 x 250 x 130 Y : 2004 L : mount everest rock M: stainless steel

/ no.65 S : 640 x 350 x 230 Y : 2004 L : beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.85 S : 3200 x 1250 x 2200 Y : 2005 L : j.f.kennedy center for the performing arts, washington d.c. M: stainless steel

/ floating mountain of the immortals S : 8600 x 4800 x 4000 Y : 2006 L : ostend, belgium M: stainless steel

/ no.42 S : 2450 x 1600 x 900 Y : 2001 L : peking university, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.45 S : 1830 x 900 x 710 Y : 2001 L : hanart t z gallery, hong kong M: stainless steel

/ no.71 S : 1850 x 1650 x 1000 Y : 2005 L : quarry bay mtr station, hong kong M: stainless steel

/ no.44 S : 2300 x 950 x 800 Y : 2001 L : hanart t z gallery, hong kong M: stainless steel

/ no.54 S : 1600 x 850 x 450 Y : 2003 L: M: stainless steel

/ no.72 S : 2600 x 1320 x 700 Y : 2004 L : tongzhou studio, beijing M: stainless steel

/ no.74 S : 600 x 280 x 260 Y : 2005 L: M: stainless steel

/ fill the sky S : 900 x 600 x 450 Y : 2001 L : space M: stainless steel, comet

/ no.75 S : 720 x 540 x 220 Y : 2005 L: M: stainless steel

/ buddhist medicine S : 1000 x 800 x 800 Y : 2006 L : shanghai biennale M: medicine

/ no.77 S : 1050 x 580 x 280 Y : 2005 L: M: stainless steel

/ no.78 S : 460 x 300 x 320 Y : 2005 L: M: stainless steel

/ a gift from heaven S : 1650 x 300 x 250 Y : 1997 L : tianjin economic development area M: stainless steel, granite

/ floating rock no. 2 S : 2300 x 1800 x 1100 Y : 2000 L : cotthem gallery, belgium M: stainless steel

/ floating rock of the open sea S : 1800 x 900 x 1600 Y : 2000 L : open sea, lingshan island M: stainless steel

/ NAME S-SIZE : H x W x L Y-YEAR L-LOCATION M-MATERIAL artificial rock installation video sculpture

80-90S

/ no.68-70 S : 500 x 550 x 300 Y : 2004 L : beijing M: stainless steel

90-00S

/ 86 divine figures S : 2200 x 1600 x 1200 Y : 2008 L : long march space, beijing M: clay

00-10S

What makes Zhan Wang The diagram on the right tries to give information about the backgrond and major idea behind Zhan Wang's art pieces. Starting from the center where a dissected stainless steel stone is located, showing the real but empty and fake but solid characteristic of Zhan Wang's work, the diagram then radiates out into a syntax delievering ideas and themes that he has gone through in the production process of his art pieces. The outer-most ring presents Zhang Wang major works in chronological order, allowing us to locate and understand the changes that might have hppened in his artist career up to the present.

tifi Ar

Girl

cia l

Ro ck S

eri es

Empty soul Empty Temptation

e Sittin

ee Str ts

1994

1990 8

198

ve e

Concrete

ltu

o Eg

Philo

ra ry

ther

Comm

Life

Death

Sense

Mind

Doubt

Believe

es ine Fig ur 86 Div

ries k Se Roc ting Floa

Buddhist Medicine

Se rie eS ky l th Fil

nL an

ds ca

pe s

Sto ne G

2006

r co

2005

er ial

Ma t

Paren

en era

tor

Spiritual

Physical

s Ea

lic

spa

Religion

Pub

es te

iva

St ee l

Childhood

Grandfa

e Painte Chines

Result Pragmatic

t ien ns Tra eal r Un

les

in ta

201

2001

tur

Earth

Reality

Material

Worker

Process

Spiritual

lar r Western

l rna l Rea

Eastern

Tim

Ete

o rs

Real

Abstract

th'

Zhan Wang

Stone

Fake

'Fif i Un

Cosmo Spirit Fantasy y soph Nature ock

Scho

199

ion

ce pta

dit

Tra

lie Be

ine

tur e Art

Maintain

Society ke

hit

a ni

Arc

Develop

Preserva tion Conser vation

9 19

e et

Humane

gy lo no ch ern Te od tern

Lie

al Mechanic tion Construc on Destructi

199

Galician Centre of Contemporary Art (Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 1993 by Alvaro Siza) The museum, located on a compact site within the ground of the convent of San to Domingo de Bonaval, is designed with great intentions as to re-connect the missing link between the modern city and the historic convent and church with the use of building profile, material and landscape articulation. The museum itself is sitting along the north-south axis, resembling the now demolished outer wall of the convent. The west face where the entrance is located is oriented parallel to the Valle-Inclan Street while the east face is parallel to the Bonaval Cemetary. The use of granite cladding, a local material, on the exterior provides a smooth transition of the architecture with the surrounding buildings. The entire museum complex follow the gradual landscape changes of the site which ends at the convent on the hill top. The open roof terrace of the museum acts as a public look-out platform where people can overlook the convent and the entire Santiago de Compostela. Ground floor plan (opposite top); Section across entrance hall (right)

Bonaval Cemetary

e -I

ll Va lan

nc e Str et

10m 0

Convent of Santo Domingo

Spatial articulation Inside the museum, Siza carefully articulated the natural light entering the space by the use of false wall and false ceiling elements so that the source of light became obscure. In the permanent exhibition rooms on the first floor, Siza utilized false ceiling installed above the gallery space so that light entered from the top can be shielded and diffused before entering the internal space. He also used different opening on the walls in the foyer space and the roof to give an abstract and plastic quality to the internal space when diffuse light penetrated into the museum. The building is composed of two interlocked L-shaped component in which the eastern L is mainly the exhibition space while the western L is the hall and the back of house spaces. First floor plan (opposite top); Section across exhibition room (right)

Bonaval Cemetary

lle Va tre nS cla

-I n et

10m 0

Convent of Santo Domingo

Exhibition space Diagrams showing the exhibition area (white) and non-exhibition area (black). The exhibition area on the ground floor is for temporary exhibition while the ones on the first floor are for permanent exhibitions. The non-exhibition areas include functional spaces such as meeting rooms, offices, reading rooms, seminar rooms, conference rooms, bar and bookstore. Ground floor plan (opposite left), first floor plan (opposite right) and cross section (opposite bottom)

Plaster study model (Scale=1:50) A plaster model of a partial section of the Galician Centre of Contemporary Art was casted to study the complexity of spatial articulation and lighting qulality that Alvaro Siza created which otherwise could not be understood from only looking through plan and sectional drawings. The sectional cut was carefully selected so as to capture various portion of the museum space at one time. The space displayed in the model include the exhibition space, the cafe, the staircases, the entrance hall and the office corridor.

Inside outside In Siza's design, he always treat the lighting quality as a major bridge between outside and inside. In the exhibition area, he utilized a false ceiling with an opening above to allow diffuse light to get into the space by several bouncing action for ideal environment to appreciate art pieces. While at the cafe, he did not hide the opening but cut a wide stripe window onto the wall to allow natural lighting come directly from the outside, where the garden of the covent is located.

Space of convergence At the entrance hall, Siza created a dramatic spatial quality and tension with a deliberately lowered entrace ceiling height followed by a double-height space. A large opening on the upper part of the wall penetrating the staircase and the roof and the sharp corner created by the convergence of two walls generated a great contrast of light and thus further intensify the poetic quality of the space.

Spatial Concept An initial attempt to design an exhibition space for an art piece of Zhang Wang. The chosen art piece was "My Personal Universe", which was the largest art of him up to date. Derived from the idea of Big Bag theory, Zhang Wan created his own universe by exploding a rock into numerous pieces, recorded them and turned them into permanent stainless steel pieces for display. On six sides of the display room video clips of the explosion were exhibited together with the stone fragments. I want to create a space that is specific to the art piece in that at the begining of the journey visitiors would be forced to walk into complete darkness, like the start of the universe when nothing existed. Then they would be directed to the centre where a shining stair case is located without knowing what would happen above it. Only after climbing up the stair would the sudden open up of space appears in their horizon, with numerous stone pieces flying above the space, forming a seemingly infinite universe.

10 .

Conceptual Study Model (Scale=1:100) A conceptual model of the designed space was made with single material to try visualing the concept. A sectional cut into the exhibition room was made to disclose the internal arrangement of space. The buffer space on the periphery was deliberately designed to have low ceiling to minimize light entrance and to produce a dramatic contrast with the high ceiling of the main exhibition space.

11 .

Staircase of Light In the buffer zone before entering the central exhibition area, the ceiling was low with very minimal light. Visitor needed to re-adjust their vision to walk in the extreme low light. Then a staircase which was shined by natural light above appeared into their sight and guided them forward. In the buufer zone, owing to the floor to floor staircase, people would not be able to tell what might happen next above the stairs. Secrets were waiting to be disclosed.

12 .

My Personal Universe After climbing up the staircase, people would be exposed to a room 20m X 20m X 10m with over 7000 stainless steel stone fragment flying all over the space lit up by diffuse light from the roof. People may stand, sit, listen, observe or touch the universe of Zhang Wang which was protected from the time and the ever-changing world.

13 .

City Fabric The site is located at the edge of Kwun Tong surrounded by building blocks on three sides and opened to the sea to the south west along the nullah. Divided by the MTR railway, the north side of Kwun Tong is made up of buildings laying in organic pattern along the slope of hill while the south side are buildings arranged in grid owing to the practical reqirement of industrial building use.

14 .

Program Map The program map tries to represent the various program of buildings in Kwun Tong that serve the citizens in the community. The major public facilities including shopping malls and institutions are located closest to the railway while residential buildings and places for work are usually separated by streets, highway or the nullah. The coast is separated from the center of the commuity with quite a distance owing to the highways and piers that were planned to occupy the space in-between.

INSTITUTION

SITE

ENTERTAINMENT

MTR STATION COMMERCIAL

RESIDENTIAL INDUSTRIAL

PROGRAM MAP

15 .

Building Mass and Crculation Major building mass around the site is located to the west with high density industrial buildings while to the east are lower density residential buildings. Both side of the site form walls that shape the boundary of the site. Major circulation of the site includes a dominant high way cutting from west to east, a MTR railway to the north and a grid of streets in the industrial region.

BUILDING MASS

CIRCULATION

16 .

Shapping of Pause The site was not defined at a single point in space-time, instead it was the result of a series of plannings and developments which might or might not be the response to one another. Since the area of the site was not included in previous events, it was then left as a waste or a Pause in Kwun Tong which is waiting for things to take place. In the present, the site is divided and used as out-door car parks and a rest garden.

before 1980

1980s

1990s

17 .

The Urban Desert Surrounded by industrial buildings, highways and power station, the site was a deserted location which is now a temporary open car park and a public park. The public park was usually empty throughout the day owing to the unpleasent surrounding environment and the lack of privacy provided.

18 .

Parti Taking the site boundary as the basic building constraint, I imagined a thin slab museum juxtaposed and defended itself against the surroundng tall industrial buildings. While the negatives were taken away from the building as internal garderns, the positive left over spaces then became the art museum building itself. I also thought of the internal courtyards to penetrate down to the basement so that different light qualities and visual linkages to the undergound could be achieved.

19 .

Garden Within To introduce Chinese Contemporary Art into the journey of the visitors to the park, the existing park was then divided into various sizes square courtyards which were inter-connected at angles so that the entire museum act as a filter in which encounter of art became possible when walking through the open garden within the museum.

garden garden

20 .

Space Division The museum space could be basically divided into three different sets of space, including the permanet gallery, the temporary gallery and the gardens. While temporary gallery and the gardens were ocated at the ground floor for easy access to the visitors of the museum, the permanent gallery was situated at the basement to create a larger variety of lighting effect and also a high degree of privacy to the collections inside.

permanent

temporary

permanent

temporary

all-day garden

space space

21 .

Sequence Contrary to common museums in which visiting sequence was unchanged, the museum space here was designed so that whichever path the visitors choose to travel, either visiting the temporary gallery first or visiting the permanent gallery first, they would still be able to go back to the lobby with the central staircase and exit from the same entrance space. This was to make sure the journey of traveling inside the museum to be full of freedom but at the same time not confusing.

5 4 3 2 1

9 8

7 1

7 9

6 7 8

sequence sequence

22 .

Models Through the process of making architectural models at different scales, various aspects of the building from the reaction to context, spatial arrangement, lighting conditions, building sections and building performance etc. could be studied and re-visited from time to time to refine the design.

23 .

Contextual Model (scale= 1:5000) The museum was designed to be a flat slab as juxtaposed to the surrounding tall industrial buildings, highways and power station. It was also performed as a filter of art so that when people walking through the building from the residential side to the industrial side or vice versa they would experience art in the journey of discovery inside the courtyards.

24 .

Conceptual Model 1 (scale= 1:500) In the first attempt, few big voids were carved out to create the internal courtyards as well as light well for basement space. It was considered not successful as spatal experience would become too similar and the scale difference of the courtyards with human would be too large for more intimate interactions.

25.

Conceptual Model 1 (scale= 1:500) Front view on site

26 .

Conceptual Model 1 (scale= 1:500) Back aerial view on site

27 .

Conceptual Model 2 (scale= 1:500) In the next attempt, big voids were broken down into small ones and arranged into an angled manner. This allowed a larger contact area between the internal courtyards and the museum building so that the introduction of art into the journey of walking through the park became possible. Different corners created by the courtyards and the boundary walls also enabled complex lighting manipulation to the basement permanent gallery .

28 .

Conceptual Model 2 (scale= 1:500) Front view on site

29 .

Conceptual Model 2 (scale= 1:500) Back aerial view on site

30 .

Study Model - Permanent Gallery (scale=1:100) In the permanent gallery, light was designed to enter the space by various means such as through the opening to the courtyards, the edge opened to the ground floor and the pool in the courtyard to produce under water light effect. Owing to the reflective surface of the stainless steel sculptures to be collected here, no direct light was allowed to prevent glare from happening in this relatively dark exhibition room.

31 .

Study Model - Temporary Gallery (scale=1:100) In the temporary gallery, diffuse light was provided throughout the day by the installation of fins on the ceiling where natural light enterd from above. Contrary to the permanent gallery, in temporary gallery each exhibition room was designed in rectangular form so that higher flexibility for display could be achieved.

32 .

Study Model - Courtyards (scale=1:100) During the design of the museum, different types of courtyard were introduced so that when visitors passing through the courtyards they would be able to explore a larger variety of experiences. Above the permanent gallery room for the art work "My Personal Universe", a small pool in the courtyard above linked the external and internal space together with water and light and created a special reflective effect to the exhibit at basement.

33 .

Schematic Model (scale=1:200) The model represented some major qualities of the museum design including the internal courtyards, light wells, slit openings and program arrangements which would then been carried through to the final design.

34 .

Sectional Model (scale=1:50) A partial sectional model of a spatially complex part of the museum was made to study the various spatial and lighting quality inside the museum. A model in this scale allowed a more in depth and close to reality study with light and how art pieces would be displayed in the exhibition rooms.

35 .

Sectional Model (scale=1:50) Side views of the sectional model showing the spatial connections between internal exhibition spaces and the external courtyards spaces.

36 .

Sectional Model (Temporary Gallery) (scale=1:50) Light inside the temporary gallery was diffused by the installation of fins on the ceiling. The entire ambience of the exhibition rooms was homogenious and calm.

37 .

Sectional Model (Permanent Gallery) (scale=1:50) In the permanent gallery double space exhibtion rooms were provided for placing art pieces with larger sizes. Natural light was introduced into the space with opening cut at corners to the courtyards or from the slit opened to the street next to the building.

38 .

Final Model (scale=1:200) The final model showed the solid and void relationship of the space and the route visitors walking through the external courtyards and the internal exhibition rooms.

39 .

Final Design The final museum design retained most of the initial concepts including linked outdoor courtyards, defensive walls at boundary, regular temporary gallery space and irregular permanent gallery space. In the museum, service areas were located at the back side of the site where access of trucks could be achieved while offices were situated at the basement and above entrance lobby. All programs were fitted tightly in the museum building so that art and garden became inseparable. Ground floor plan (opposite above), cross sections (opposite below)

40 .

Final Design In the permanent gallery at the basement, the boundary situation became a crucial element to connect the internal world to the external world. When light entered to the basement from the slit opening at the edge connected throughout the permanent gallery, visitors were guided to walk pass the exhibition rooms, one by one, and experience the site in a new way that they had never imagined before. Basement floor plan (opposite above), cross section (opposite below)

10 temporary gallery

41 .

Final Design Exploded isometric of the Museum of Contemporary Chinese Art showing the three dimensional spatial relationship of the entire building as a flat slab on the site.

+ 4.5

+ 0.0

- 6.5

42 .

Final Design Detailed section cutting through the permanent gallery space with the special collection room for the art piece: "My Personal Universe" by Zhang Wang and the courtyard above with the pool at center.

43 .

Final Design Rendered views of the museum on the site as seen from the entrance (opposite top), from a high angle (opposite midde) and from across the river at pedestrian level (opposite bottom).

44 .

Final Presentation