The First Architectural Model Museum in China

The first architectural model museum in China is uniquely interpretated from a vision derived heavily from concepts of future cities in fiction.

The client, the founder of Fengyuzhu, hoped to display archi- tectural models of all the famous contemporary Chinese architects in this museum. His inspiration came from Archi-Depot, an architec-tural model museum situated at a warehouse in Tokyo. The architect conceived of an idea that since the museum will focus on models of vari- ous built or unbuilt projects, if viewed from a macro perspective, ignoring the diference in region and time periods, they can collectively form a ‘world’ together. The design for this museum therefore turns the entire museum into a mega model of a future city of sorts. The collected models become difer- ent components of this future city’s fabric, with each of them divergently predicting a diferent future. 

The dense models on Archi-Depot’s shelves reminded the architect of A.B Walker’s comic, quoted by Rem Koolhaas in Delirious New York, which was published in a magazine in March 1909. Koolhaas thought it represented a utopian imagination of skyscrapers. As the diversified imaginations of skyscrapers throughout Europe and North America in the early 20th century shaped the prototype of a vertical city, the architect drew inspiration to make this museum into a model of a future vertical city.  Zenobia, which was completely built on high stakes mentioned in “The Light City II” part of Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities, helped deter- mine the basic structure of the future city. It is hoped that the models, as a part of the future city, will float above its interface, without literally pictur-ing this future city. To highlight the physical models, the city should be abstract. It was eventually decided to have this future city built with high round rods with a diameter of 32mm as a basic element. This future city is The Last Redoubt, which is derived from The Night Land, a science fiction work published in 1912.

The Last Redoubt – The Construction of Invisible StructuresA total of 5,653 steel pipes were used to build the Last Redoubt. Structural and decorative pillars uniform in size and visual impression were made to deliberately weaken the existence of the structures. These continuing steel pipes together form a rhythm and compose interfaces that partition dif- ferent areas in the vertical city.  The design of the Last Redoubt fully considers both human and model scales. From a model scale perspective, the Last Redoubt has a height of more than ten levels, with all the model plates cantilevered and welded on the round bars. Diferent models are located on the supporting plates at diferent heights, collectively shaping the form of the Last Redoubt. On a human scale, the museum has a mezzanine that spans across all exhibition areas. The mezzanine is suspended by white round steel tubes with a diameter of 32mm. The mez- zanine is hidden between interfaces formed by steel bars, in order to avoid visual conflicts between the two scales. Visitors can walk between models in a vaguely visible way and observe them, which forms an impor- tant circulation for experiencing the museum and constitutes a part of the overall model - the Last Redoubt’s three-dimensional traic system.

Acropolis 

The entrance hall is called the Visionary City, which is named after a fancy painting of a future city by American painter William R Leigh in the early 20th century. Visionary City is the acropolis of the Last Redoubt and is more like an empty wilderness. Only The Stacks (derived from the movie Ready Player One) stands alone on one side, and the architecture on it is reticent. However, when the sur- rounding glass is powered on, the large vertical city behind it suddenly ap- pears, and projected shadows will pop on the ground, making the area awash with illusionary experiences.

3 Main Zones

The inner city of the Last Redoubt, i.e. the museum’s main exhibition area, is divided into three main sections, including Tijuana (from the movie Cowboy Bebop), Ironia (The name is derived from the City of Iron in the movie Alita: Battle Angel) and the Pod-bay (2001: A Space Odyssey). Tijuana and Ironia difer in spatial arrangement based on the original plane size, while Pod-bay is like a plaza in the city, which is also the intersection of Tijuana and Ironia.

1 Pantheon

There is a circular space in the southwest corner of the original plane which is used for VR shows, rest or communication. It is the only socialising space in the museum, like the city’s Pantheon. While it is named The Thunder Dome (from Mad Max), it is a peaceful place filled with divine light.

Unexpected Tribute

On the side of the dome is the stair- case that leads to the mezzanine. It was originally intended for the space downsatairs to be a storage room. However, the perforated floor slabs (originally designed to reduced the weight of the mezzanine) allowed light to penetrate the holes and filter into the room. The lighting efect was highly emotive, and as such the area was made into a special exhibition hall, named Tyrell (in tribute to the movie Blade Runner).

3 Sacred Spaces

The Last Redoubt was embedded onto the original irregular plane as a complete square city, which left some fragmentary corner spaces on the plane. These spaces are marked as special exhibition spaces in red, yellow and blue, which also func-tion as sacred spaces of the city to connect the Last Redoubt (i.e. the architectural model museum) with the real world. Red, blue and yellow respectively represent Olympus (Appleseed), Asgard (Thor) and Arrakis (Dune). In fact, these colours symbolise one thing: pure spaces will eventually break through the boundaries and expand the unknown fields more magnificently to achieve sustainable development.

3 Harbours

There were 3 balconies on the original plane, which are used to represent the city’s expansion of its frontier. They are regarded as spaceships on the three air harbours of the Last Redoubt,and are respec- tively The Eclipse (Star Wars) which represents the ambition to conquer, The Covenant (Star Trek) which sym- bolises curiosity and exploration, and The Serenity (Firefly) beside Pod-bay, which stand for courage and luck. This symbolically represents the Last Redoubt as not being the same as the Last Redoubt waiting for death as in fiction. 

“Do not go gentle into that good night,Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

The Night Land

Beyond the Last Redoubt, which is primarily white, is the Night Land. As an antithetical pair, the elevator lobby is made black, as if it were dark night. The Peach Tree from Judge Dredd, the black silent city that erects in the night, is the other side of the white Stacks in the Visionary City. Looking at each other across the Stargate, they are two diferent worlds. Directly facing the elevator is a huge black digital control wall that can display information including patterns on it. It is more like the Monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey, implying the close relationship between the glamorous Last Redoubt behind the gate and the Night Land.

“April is the cruelest month, breeding Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing Memory and desire, stirringDull roots with spring rain.”

the sunlight filtered and fell into the museum, making it look real yet unreal at the same time. So it seemed to be possible to dissolve the entity.    The discipline of architecture needs to use architecture as tools to think about the future destiny of mankind. It must face the future, and shouldn’t hide behind the shell of history, con-text and regionalism but need to take these as a starting point to create a more ambitious future or more humble divinities. Firmness and eternity may always be an illusion that we insist on. However, openness, temporality, diversity, chance, accident or temporary amnesia, instant inspiration, short-lived beauty and slight fragility are also worthy of attention for the profession of Architecture, and we can create something with it. 

Project Information

Project Nmae: Models in Model

Architect: Wutopia Lab

Location: Fengyuzhu Headquarters, Shanghai, China

Total Area: 1000 sqm

Photography: CreatAR Images

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