China Is Getting a Futuristic Cultural Center That Looks Like a Giant Floating Cloud

SANAA Wins Competition for Shenzhen Maritime Museum With Billowing Cloud Concept

Another incredible cultural center has just been announced for Shenzhen, China. Japanese architecture firm SANAA, led by prestigious architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, won the Shenzhen Maritime Museum competition with their futuristic design featuring a billowing roofscape. The project, titled Clouds on the Sea, won the bid against other popular firms like Kengo Kuma & Associates, Sou Fujimoto Architects, UNStudio, and Open Architecture.

The requirements for the museum were specified by the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality and the Bureau of Public Works of Shenzhen Municipality. SANAA’s scheme will create a framework that will include educational areas, spaces optimized for research, and typical museum display spaces. The firm describes the proposal as “floating architecture” that will elegantly flow from landscape to building.

The structure of the floating cloud dips down to create structure and expands upward to allow natural light to enter the interior spaces. Though it creates a modern aesthetic, this fluid design helps to reinforce the idea that the building acts as one with the surrounding mountainous landscapes. The jury of the competition describes that “the design reflects the concept of a floating architecture that enables the museum to merge into the mountain and sea in a gentle and modest way, and to blend into the unique geological environment of Dapeng Peninsula that houses it.”

If you like this Shenzhen cultural center, check out our coverage of some other incredible projects coming to the city including Jean Nouvel’s Futuristic Opera House, Zaha Hadid Architects’ Open-Base Tower, and the New Natural History Museum.