FOLK ART MUSEUM, Xiangshan Campus (象山中心校區), China Academy of Art (中國美術學院), Hangzhou, China
Before we left the Xiangshan campus, we dropped by the new Folk Art Museum. Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, the Folk Art Museum is the latest addition to the campus. Similar to Wang Shu, Kengo Kuma’s work has long been considered as a contemporary representation of the essence of traditional architecture. Last year when we were In Tokyo, we visited Kengo Kuma’s Suntory Museum of Art and Nezu Museum, and immediately fell in love with Kengo Kuma’s clever interplay of light and shadow, magnificent treatment of transitional spaces between interior and exterior, poetic arrangement of circulation spaces and contemporary interpretation of traditional Japanese architecture.
The Folk Art Museum at Xiangshan sits against a hill like a series of overlapping parallelograms. Aligned with Kengo Kuma’s principle “to recover the place”, the spirit of the sloped landscape is carefully maintained with the cascade arrangement and ramp circulation of the building. Old roof tiles are extensively used as roofing and also an outer screen outside the glass walls of the building. The tiles serve the purpose as shading device by casting a myriad of floating shadows in the interior. Their existence provokes a poetic atmosphere made of light and shadow. Before our trip, we were delighted to find out that the Folk Art Museum would be ready to open its doors two days before our visit. Unfortunately, when we arrived at its door, all we could see was an empty building with several installation workers inside the building. All we could do was walk around the building and ascend to the accessible roof via a long flight of exterior stair that penetrates the museum in the middle.
After our visit to Xiangshan, we took the public bus back to Downtown Hangzhou. We returned to the hotel to pick up our bags, took a taxi to the airport bus station, and hopped onto the bus for Hangzhou International Airport. When we get off, the yellowish afternoon sun and a banner promoting a new direct flight from Hangzhou to Copenhagen greeted our arrival at the airport. It wasn’t too busy in the airport concourse and we had plenty of time after checking into the waiting zone, reviewing our photographs in the cameras while waiting for our Dragon Air flight back to Hong Kong. This concludes our 5-day visit to Anhui and Hangzhou.
The pathway that leads up to the museum entrance and entrance forecourt.
After we walked up the stair to the upper part, we reached a platform and a secondary entrance of the museum, and a stair that leads further up to the roof.
Upper platform of the complex.
A peek into the museum interior from the upper platform.
Our reflection on the glass wall of the museum beyond the screen of tiles.
Dark tiles are clipped with tiny hangers onto the diamond shaped wire system.
Space between the outer screen of tiles and the inner layer of glass windows.
Second stair that leads to the upper roof.
View from the upper roof down to the Xiangshan campus and beyond.
Layers of sloped tiled roofs produce the unique minimalist form that resembles undulating terrain of natural landscape.
Sometimes, the tiles seem like floating in mid air.
We were forbidden to visit the museum interior, we had no choice but to return back down to the main campus after a walk around the Folk Art Museum.
It was late afternoon when we arrived at Hangzhou Airport for our flight home to Hong Kong.
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Read other posts on 2015 Anhui and Hangzhou
1. History, Scenery, Architecture, 5-day tour of Anhui and Hangzhou, China
2. Laojie (Old Street), Tunxi, China
3. Hongcun, Anhui, China
4. Xidi, Anhui, China
5. West Sea Canyon, Huangshan, Anhui, China
6. From Monkey Watching the Sea to Welcome Pine, Huangshan, Anhui, China
7. Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
8. Folk Art Museum, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
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Read other posts on 2015 Anhui and Hangzhou
1. History, Scenery, Architecture, 5-day tour of Anhui and Hangzhou, China
2. Laojie (Old Street), Tunxi, China
3. Hongcun, Anhui, China
4. Xidi, Anhui, China
5. West Sea Canyon, Huangshan, Anhui, China
6. From Monkey Watching the Sea to Welcome Pine, Huangshan, Anhui, China
7. Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
8. Folk Art Museum, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
XIANGSHAN CAMPUS (象山中心校區), China Academy of Art (中國美術學院), Hangzhou, China
The bus ride from Huangshan to Hangzhou took about 4 hours. By the time we checked into our hotel near West Lake in Hangzhou it was already dinner time. After a good night of rest for our legs, in the morning we decided to visit the Xiangshan Campus (象山中心校區) of China Academy of Art (中國美術學院) in the outskirt of Hangzhou. We grabbed a Chinese pork bun and walked to the waterfront promenade by West Lake. We stood by the waterlilies and finished our simple breakfast. Soon we walked over to the nearby bus stop and took a local bus heading to the direction of Xiangshan. The entire bus journey took a little over half a hour. Contemporary architecture was the reason for our visit to Xiangshan, and was our only major activity planned for our brief stay in Hangzhou.
Wang Shu (王澍), dean of the School of Architecture at China Academy of Art, is one of the most well known Chinese architects. In 1997, he and his wife Lu Wenyu (陸文宇) found their firm Amateur Architecture Studio. The couple had been teaching at the School of Architecture at China Academy of Art ever since 2000. Based in Hangzhou, their works represent a unique critical regionalism, deriving their own architectural character with contemporary reinterpretation of local heritage. Their most famous works include the Ningbo Museum (2008), and Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art near Hangzhou (2007). After receiving a number of international awards for their effort on redefining contemporary Chinese architecture, in 2012 Wang Shu was rewarded with the Pritzker Prize, which considered to be the highest award in the international architectural industry.
In 1928, China Academy of Art was founded in Hangzhou. It is the oldest and most famous art school in China. Today the academy has two campuses in Hangzhou, one right by West Lake at city centre, and a newer one in Xiangshan, at the southwest outskirt of the city. Wang Shu and Lu Wenyu began the design of Xiangshan Campus in 2002. Many buildings, including a library, a gallery, 6 school buildings, 2 studio buildings, 2 bridges, etc., were completed in 2004. The campus continued to expand until today, and has undoubtedly become one of the most influential projects of Amateur Architecture Studio. The campus presents a good example of Wang and Lu’s design ideology of capturing the spirit of the place and reinventing the Chinese architectural traditions into contemporary uses. Many buildings at Xiangshan were actually built in traditional construction methods, despite the use of modern materials such as glass and metal. Old roof tiles were salvaged from all over the province of Zhejiang and reused at Xiangshan as shading device and wall cladding.
We spent about three hours wandering around the campus, visited about half a dozen of buildings before heading back to the city.
Reclaimed material is always a major component in Wang’s and Lu’s projects. At Xiangshan, reclaimed roof tiles and wood panels can be seen all over.
Courtyards, a essential component in traditional Chinese architecture, also have a vital role at Xiangshan as much of student life happen in these enclosed open spaces.
A peek into the sculpture hall.
Footbridges connect many buildings in Xiangshan. This is one of the interestingly designed pedestrian bridge that crosses a small canal, and has been temporarily turned into an open air exhibition space for students’ art pieces.
Old roof tiles from all over the province are reused here as horizontal shading device.
The library complex is consisted of two buildings with contrasting facade treatment.
Ramp is a major design element in the campus. In some cases, the upper levels can be accessible for scooters and bikes.
Despite the overall brutal finishes and craftsmanship, Wang’s and Lu’s design concepts have successfully created interesting architecture out of traditional Chinese architecture and Modernist design approaches.
In a number of the buildings, exterior circulation has become a main facade feature. Though in some cases, the circulation route would be in conflict with window openings.
Depending on the slope, some of the exterior circulation route are actually steps.
The wood and stone guesthouse and restaurant building is a recent addition to the campus.
The interplay of walls cladded with different stones is covered by a large roof. With a natural touch, the underside of the roof is dominated by the heavy use of timber trusses and bamboo mats.
There is a water pond in front of the School of Architecture area, encompassing three major buildings with distinct architectural treatments.
Similar to the Ningbo Museum, reclaimed bricks and tiles are used to clad outer walls.
Like traditional Chinese architecture, tranquil courtyards give another dimension to the buildings in Xiangshan, where the boundary between exterior and interior remains loose.
Irregular opening on concrete walls represents another design approach, framing unique views for users in the buildings.
Reclaimed wood panels serve well as a backdrop for sculpture display.
Distinct brise-soleil of the two School of Architecture buildings: concrete vertical fins and masonry cross openings, create a coherent atmosphere for the exterior forecourt where the flanking contrasting textures complement each other.
Entrance to one of the School of Architecture building: Bricks are used to form a perforated skin. The word “TOMORROW” is highlighted on the wall surface by filling in the wall openings with glass bottles, like a pin art effect.
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Read other posts on 2015 Anhui and Hangzhou
1. History, Scenery, Architecture, 5-day tour of Anhui and Hangzhou, China
2. Laojie (Old Street), Tunxi, China
3. Hongcun, Anhui, China
4. Xidi, Anhui, China
5. West Sea Canyon, Huangshan, Anhui, China
6. From Monkey Watching the Sea to Welcome Pine, Huangshan, Anhui, China
7. Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
8. Folk Art Museum, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
HISTORY, SCENERY, ARCHITECTURE, 5-day tour of Anhui and Hangzhou, China
In Mid-September, we made a short trip to the province of Anhui Southern China. It has been over a decade since we last backpacked in China. Compared to the culture of arid yellow earth, mighty military history and ancient Buddhist temples in Shanxi and Hebei that we visited in the past, Anhui and the surrounding areas belong to a landscape of green teas, lotus ponds, and misty mountains.
From Hong Kong, we first flew to Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, from where we took a bus to the town of Tunxi. Also known as Huangshan City, Tunxi is the transportation hub for most travelers visiting Huangshan. A stroll on the Laojie (Old Street) in Tunxi prepared us to the crowded experience that may happen in any tourist spots frequented by local visitors. We took Tunxi as the base to visit Hongcun and Xidi, the famous ancient villages nearby that captured the imagination of many movie directors and local painters. On Huangshan (Yellow Mountains), the magical mountains renowned for the mysterious scenery, we spent two days braving the centuries old stepped trails awaiting for magical moments when spiky granite peaks revealing themselves under the veil of mist and fog. Returning with burning knee pains and muscle ache from Huangshan, we had a dose of China’s contemporary architecture at the National Academy of Art in Xiangshan, near Hangzhou. While this brief visit reminded us our fond travel memories in China, it may well reignite our interest in making longer journeys in other parts of China in the near future.
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Read other posts on 2015 Anhui and Hangzhou
1. History, Scenery, Architecture, 5-day tour of Anhui and Hangzhou, China
2. Laojie (Old Street), Tunxi, China
3. Hongcun, Anhui, China
4. Xidi, Anhui, China
5. West Sea Canyon, Huangshan, Anhui, China
6. From Monkey Watching the Sea to Welcome Pine, Huangshan, Anhui, China
7. Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
8. Folk Art Museum, Xiangshan Campus, China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China
Blue Lapis Road 