designboom celebrates international museum day
As we prepare to celebrate International Museum Day on 18th March, designboom rounds up a selection of highlights from the year while spotlighting some of the most anticipated upcoming unveilings. This year’s theme, set forth by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), is Museums for Education and Research. Through an array of events and activities, participating cultural institutions will together explore their crucial role in cultivating cultural exchange, creativity, critical thinking, and the inclusive proliferation of knowledge. Many, such as the Louvre Abu Dhabi are also welcoming art enthusiasts with free entry for a period of time.
From art and history to science and technology, we see how museums and galleries across the world are vital platforms enriching and shaping our understanding of the world. In southern Norway, a functional grain silo has been transformed into a cultural venue celebrating Nordic art. Meanwhile in Vietnam, a pottery museum honors ceramic craftsmanship and the history of the Bat Trang village, underscoring the importance of preserving heritage and culture. We also await expansions of the Lucas Museum and the Broad in Los Angeles as they prepare to accommodate their growing collections while hosting more extensive public programmings.
Fortress House Museum by Gamma Architects in Gibraltar | rendering © Gamma Architects | read more here
museums and art galleries unveiled throughout the year
designboom speaks with Japanese architect Junya Ishigami, whose latest project, the Zaishui Art Museum in Rizhao, tackles one of China’s most intriguing phenomenon. When faced with the Chinese landscape, its vast and boundless fabric can pose a daunting architectural challenge. Competing with its immense environment is undoubtedly tricky, argues Ishigami. In light of these conditions, Ishigami completes the museum as a long piece of architecture, identical in scale to the artificial lake over which it hovers. Stretching around a kilometer from end to end, the building evokes a streak of wind brushing over water. ‘I wanted to present the building as a new landscape, embedding it into the Chinese environment to create the experience of walking through the lake — similarly to walking on the beach, where people can feel the essence of water,’ the architect tells designboom. Read the full interview as Junya Ishigami discusses his vision and ambitious design for the Zaishui Art Museum, presented as a new landscape experience over water.
image © Arch-Exist Photography | read more here
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Giò Forma completes this Design Space AlUla as a vibrant hub for the creative community of the historic AlJadidah district of AlUla, Saudi Arabia. The Milanese architecture studio designs this landmark building as both a gallery and a catalyst for dialogue, collaboration, and innovation. Recognized as once by its luminous facade of patterned steel, the project first began in 2021, when Samantha Cotterell, then Executive Design Director of The Royal Commission for AlUla, sought a partner to bring the Design Space to life. Giò Forma, along with Black Engineering, were chosen to develop the concept and support the design-build process. Their collaboration aimed to create a space that both showcased design initiatives and fostered connections between local and international creatives.
image © Shoayb Khattab | read more here
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A new museum of Nordic Art will open tomorrow to the public in Kristiansand, Southern Norway. Kunstsilo, an expansive three floor, 8,500 square-meter building, emerges on the waterfront in the peninsula of Odderøya, and integrates for the first time the Southern Norway Art Museum and the prestigious Tangen Collection of Nordic art, making it the largest of its kind in the region. Mestres Wåge Arquitectes, BAX, and Mendoza Partida have undertaken this extensive heritage preservation project which transforms the functionalist grain silo, designed in 1935 by architects Arne Korsmo and Sverre Aasland, into a cultural venue.
image © Alan Williams | read more here
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After more than two years of development, the Zhuhai Jinwan Civic Art Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects is now complete and inaugurated in China. This major new cultural venue involves the integration of four distinct institutions: a 1,200-seat grand theater; a 500-seat multi-functional hall, a science center; and an art museum. Arranged symmetrically, the venues are connected by a central plaza that serves as a shared external foyer surrounded by glazed walls that promote transparency and a sense of openness. It is at the heart of Aviation New City, an urbanisation with a built area of 4.78 million sqm housing 100,000 residents and incorporating new civic, cultural, academic and commercial infrastructure within Zhuhai’s Jinwan district.
image © Virgile Simon Bertrand | read more here
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Since the 11th century, the Bat Trang village in Vietnam has stood as a hub for ceramic and pottery craftsmanship. It is home to a distinct style of porcelain — a legacy forged through generations of local artisans who have developed unique decorative techniques and glazes. Many households today remain actively involved in this exceptional pottery craft, with many efforts made to empower and ensure its cultural continuity. Standing as a testament to this legacy is 1+1>2 Architects’ design for the Bat Trang Pottery Museum that showcases artisans’ work, retells the village’s history, and invites people to learn about the different materials and techniques involved in pottery-making. During the design process, the team organized meetings with pottery experts, local artisans, and villagers to discuss the museum plans and program, resulting in a large and interactive open space on top of commercial functions that support the community’s livelihood.