Category: Museum
Principal Architect: Meng Yan

Project General Manager: Zhang Haijun
Project Manager: Liao Mengjun
Project Architect: Yue Ran (Architecture ) | Zhang Xuejuan ( Lanscape)
Team: Matt Eshleman, Zhu Hongrui, Sun Yanhua, Yuen Chi Wai, Yuan Ruizhe, Wen Ting, Yu Shiyao, Sun Pengcheng, Ni Ruoning, Ji Hengwei (Architecture ) | Li Guanda, Gao Yufeng, Jin Xin, Ma Xiying, Pu Jinyan ( Lanscape) | Deng Tingfang, He Jiamin (Interior) | Lin lingyu, Lin Siyao, Wei Tianqi, Wan Yuqing, Lin Shuyi, Liu Jiaji, Gao qingyue, Zhang Manjia (Internship)

 

In the late 1970s, Shenzhen became a Special Economic Zone. China Merchants Group (Hongkong) was commissioned to establish the Shekou Industrial Zone. The management methods and experience of the Shekou Industrial Zone, known as the “Shekou Model,” led to the economic take-off of Shenzhen and China in the following 40 years. Founded in 1872, China Merchants Group decided to build the China Merchants Group History Museum at the top of the Weibo hill in Shekou to welcome its 150th birthday  and pay tribute to the pioneers of reform and opening up.

URBANUS was invited to design the China Merchants Group History Museum, proposing “the hill as the exhibition venue , the city  as exhibition.” The design concept takes the entire Weibo hill as a spatial narrative as a whole, customizing architectural space that blends into nature with monumental characteristics.

The timeline of the reform and opening up history unfolds in the Mountain walkway, where the hike becomes part of the exhibition. The historical narrative ends up in the Museum at the top of the Mountain.  The majority of the original buildings at the top of Weibo hill had been demolished, except microwave communication station has been preserved as a core exhibition area of the China Merchants Group History Museum. The museum has four floors. The first, second, and fourth floors are the main exhibition space. The elevated third floor is a 360-degree viewing platform open to the public.

The China Merchants Group History Museum has its special meaning thatmarks a significant turning point in China’s contemporary history. We have tried to  integrate a monumental landmark building with citizens’ daily lives, so that  Weibo Mountain, a secret hidden in the city, becomes  a spiritual landmark of Shenzhenand a destination for the cultural life of citizens. People climb Weibo Mountain to see the sky and the sea, to look back on history, and to look forward to the future, creating a public space and urban memory that belongs to the present.

 

Client: China Merchants Real Estate Co. Ltd.
Location: Shekou, Shenzhen
Design: 2020-
Construction: 2021-
Site Area: 2425 m²
Floor Area: 6500 m²
Landscape Area: 13,733m²

Collaborators:
(LDI) Structure/ MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing): Huasen Architectual and Engineering Design
Interior Construction: You Gaoya Decoration and Construction Industrial co., Ltd.
Landscape Construction: Shenzhen Origin-End Anchoring Landscape Design
Curtain Wall: Pag Facade Systems Co., Ltd.
Lighting Design: Handu Design Consultant (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. 
Logo Design: Huangyang Design
Exhibition Design: Media Scenography Group

Photographers: TAL