After three years of construction, Beijing's Open Architecture Museum, which is completely hidden in the dunes, is ready. The UCCA Dune Art Museum is at completely covered in sand and has an interior consisting of cave-like rooms.
Located east of Beijing, in Qinhuangdo to be precise, the museum building hardly stands out in the rugged landscape. The museum consists of concrete shells, almost all of which were made by local craftsmen, including former shipbuilders. Open Architecture deliberately left the irregular texture of walls, a result of handicrafts, unfinished.
Visitors enter the 930-square-metre museum through a long tunnel and a dome-shaped reception area. Behind it are the 10 caves that are the actual museum galleries. Ample natural light is guaranteed all year round thanks to skylights and carefully chosen glazing. The latter also make for fantastic views. A spiral staircase leads up to the top where there is a platform where visitors can look out over the surroundings. The building also houses a café and a reading room.
Although specific figures are not yet known, Open Architecture claims that relatively little energy is needed to maintain a comfortable indoor temperature. The insulating effect of the sand contributes significantly to this. In addition, a heat pump with ground source is used for air conditioning. For the construction of the museum, some dunes first had to be removed and then rebuilt on the new museum. The adjacent dunes were carefully treated and left completely intact.
Open Architecture chose the dune landscape out of respect for nature and stimulated by the desire to protect the fragile ecosystem formed over a period of thousands of years. The museum's location keeps the surrounding sand dunes protected from encroaching real estate initiatives. Open Architecture has planned a nearby museum, the Sea Art Museum, which will partly be located in the water. At low tide, visitors can walk from one museum to the other via a long connecting bridge.
