Museum of Clocks, Jianchuan Museum Cluster
Chengdu, People's Republic of China · 2007
Photo · Bi Kejian
A monumental open-air rotunda precedent by Liu Jiakun, utilizing a continuous curved red brick wall and a heavy concrete ring beam to frame the sky, creating a contemplative exhibition space.
- What we like about this project
- A single, minimalist microphone stand sits in the center of the vast, patterned stone floor.
Materials
- red-brick
- exposed-concrete
- stone-paver
Visual identifiers
- circular-courtyard
- curved-brick-wall
- concrete-ring-beam
- oculus-opening
- exhibition-band
Style tags
- monumental
- regionalist
- brutalist-influence
Visual tags
- monumental
- rotunda
- open-air
- museum
- shadow-play
- textured-masonry
- Geometry
- A monumental cylindrical volume defined by a continuous curved brick wall that sweeps upward to meet a heavy, inward-sloping concrete ring beam, framing a circular opening to the sky.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing or clad brick masonry with an in-situ concrete ring beam.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete ring beam supporting the upper edge of a circular masonry wall structure.
- Spatial scale
- Monumental scale, with the brick walls rising several stories high, dwarfing the single microphone stand on the paved floor.
- Lighting
- Direct sunlight casts a sharp, sweeping elliptical shadow across the textured red brick wall, contrasting with the soft ambient light in the shaded portion of the cylinder.
- Atmosphere
- Solemn and contemplative, defined by the stark contrast of light and shadow on raw, textured materials.
- Environmental context
- An open-air courtyard or rotunda within a museum complex, isolated from the surrounding urban context to focus on sky and memory.
- Spatial experience
- The space feels deeply enclosed yet open to the elements, drawing the eye upward along the massive curved brick surface toward the sky, while a continuous horizontal band of historical photographs anchors the human scale at the base.
- Composition rhythm
- The strong horizontal band of black-and-white photographs contrasts with the sweeping vertical curve of the brickwork and the circular concrete rim.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regionalist monumentalism
- Program
- Museum exhibition courtyard or memorial space
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- red-brick, exposed-concrete, stone-paver
- Visual identifiers
- circular-courtyard, curved-brick-wall, concrete-ring-beam, oculus-opening, exhibition-band
- Style tags
- monumental, regionalist, brutalist-influence
- Visual tags
- monumental, rotunda, open-air, museum, shadow-play, textured-masonry
- Geometry
- A monumental cylindrical volume defined by a continuous curved brick wall that sweeps upward to meet a heavy, inward-sloping concrete ring beam, framing a circular opening to the sky.
- Facade system
- Load-bearing or clad brick masonry with an in-situ concrete ring beam.
- Structural guess
- Reinforced concrete ring beam supporting the upper edge of a circular masonry wall structure.
- Spatial scale
- Monumental scale, with the brick walls rising several stories high, dwarfing the single microphone stand on the paved floor.
- Lighting
- Direct sunlight casts a sharp, sweeping elliptical shadow across the textured red brick wall, contrasting with the soft ambient light in the shaded portion of the cylinder.
- Atmosphere
- Solemn and contemplative, defined by the stark contrast of light and shadow on raw, textured materials.
- Environmental context
- An open-air courtyard or rotunda within a museum complex, isolated from the surrounding urban context to focus on sky and memory.
- Spatial experience
- The space feels deeply enclosed yet open to the elements, drawing the eye upward along the massive curved brick surface toward the sky, while a continuous horizontal band of historical photographs anchors the human scale at the base.
- Composition rhythm
- The strong horizontal band of black-and-white photographs contrasts with the sweeping vertical curve of the brickwork and the circular concrete rim.
- Style reading
- Contemporary regionalist monumentalism
- Program
- Museum exhibition courtyard or memorial space
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture