Gallery ︎︎︎
Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition
The museum’s infinite dialogue with the city“The new MOCAPE in Shenzhen redefines the museum experience with its dynamic, looped design, seamlessly integrating art and urban planning into an ever-evolving public stage where visitors become part of the exhibition itself.”
Dietmar Leyk, principal and founder
Our proposal for the new Museum of Contemporary Art and Planning Exhibition - MOCAPE - in Shenzhen is centred around a three-fold spatial concept. Firstly, MOCAPE becomes a meeting place for art and urban architecture, imbued with an intense, international atmosphere. Secondly, our proposal emphasises transformability, suggesting a rich spatial structure that enables the most open and flexible organisation for exhibitions and research, ensuring this cultural centre’s relevance for the future. Thirdly, the design focuses on creating a strong public attractor situated at the heart of Shenzhen, China.
The new MOCAPE establishes itself as a crucial node connecting key landmarks such as the City Library, the Opera House, the Youth Activity Hall (YAH), and the Central Bookstore, further enhancing the Civic Centre of Shenzhen as a significant cultural destination. A special feature of the museum includes several gardens in its outer areas, which symbolise the unchanging cycles of nature and serve as a reminder of humanity's connection to real time. MOCAPE functions as a theatre loge overlooking the courtyard park, which acts as the stage. Simultaneously, when viewed from the park, the perspective is reversed—the visitors moving through the museum’s loop become the performers, and the park transforms into the auditorium.
The new MOCAPE asserts its character as an artificial object within its urban environment. The built structure of our proposal intertwines landscape and enclosures, creating a frame and pedestal for objects, drawings, paintings, and new media. As a pure square in plan, the building presents a simple form from a distance, while the trajectory through its numerous façade openings reveals its inner complexity. Together with the unique design of its galleries, the building takes on a rich, jewel-like quality, particularly when illuminated at night.
The roof landscape atop the museum reaches skyward, functioning as a billboard. Strategic cut-outs in the roof serve as outdoor terraces and windows into the museum, offering glimpses of the exhibitions inside.
Our proposal employs an urban model to organise the museum. Inside, an infinite street—the loop—acts as a continuation of the city outside. It is akin to walking through the streets of an art district, where one enters a gallery, spends a meditative moment within, then returns to the street, and after a thoughtful pause to admire the nearby park, encounters another fascinating exhibition. Within the new MOCAPE, even the street displays valuable artwork.
The movement of the visitor becomes the guiding motif for the spatial organisation of the museum. Circulation itself is an exhibition. Similar to a landscape of discovery, the visitor experiences contemporary art and urban architecture (planning exhibition) simultaneously. The continuous, interweaving loop allows for both a chronological experience and surprising connections.