V&A reveals ambitious plans for Chinese museum designed by Fumihiko Maki
The UK’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has revealed new details of its biggest ever international collaboration: a design museum in Shenzhen, China, created by Japanese architecture studio Maki & Associates.
The new museum, called Design Society, is scheduled to open in early 2017 within a larger cultural complex called the Sea World Culture and Arts Centre.
The V&A has now announced it will curate a special gallery devoted to 20th and 21st century international design.
The museum project is being overseen by developer China Merchants Shekou Holdings (CMSK), and marks the first of its kind between a UK museum and a Chinese partner.
The V&A will also consult on the museum’s design and operations, organise two touring exhibitions and launch community design and innovation workshops to promote the development of Shenzhen and challenge the notion that design in the city “is limited to reproductions with little originality.”
The V&A Gallery will explore “how values drive design, and how design is valued”, with objects drawn from the V&A’s major collections including fashion, photography, furniture, product and graphic design, theatre and performance. Exhibits will include a chandelier that unites nature and lighting technology and a meticulously embellished Christian Dior dress.
Objects from earlier historical periods and different geographical areas will also be added to position design values within a wider historical and cultural framework.
“The V&A has a long history of working with China, and this project is enabling us to connect with the fast moving design, manufacturing and creative scene here in Shenzhen, as well as sharing our collections, knowledge and expertise in one of the most energetic and progressive cities in the world,” said Tim Reeve, deputy director of the V&A.
"We support the objectives of Design Society to use the power of design to address major issues of our time and elevate the role of design in society.”
The Design Society will also feature restaurants and retail spaces, a theatre, a multi-purpose hall, a branch of art institution the Guanfu Museum, and learning facilities.
The building is the first architectural project in China for Maki & Associates, and will be formed of three cantilevered volumes atop a deconstructed plinth, “opening up horizons to the mountain, the sea and the city and enabling cultural conversation and dialogue”.
Ole Bouman, founding director of Design Society, said: “We believe in design as a method of inquiry to apply the essential human qualities of agility, curiosity and creativity to meet the urgent questions of our times. At a time of accelerating change, the future belongs to those who can deploy these qualities in an applied human endeavour in design."
Shenzhen is currently home to several cultural developments, including the new Shenzhen Art Museum and Library complex designed by German studio KSP Jurgen Engel Architekten.
Meanwhile, the first renderings were recently released for a new branch of the V&A in London, at the Olympicopolis cultural development planned for the city’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The institute is also opening a branch in Dundee, Scotland, in a building designed by Kengo Kuma.
V&A Fumihiko Maki Design Society architecture design Sea World Culture and Arts Centre ShenzhenRobot-built pavilion will take centre stage as V&A explores the future of engineering
V&A galleries exploring Europe's Age of Enlightenment reopen following extensive redesign
Jürgen Engel wins competition for jutting, glass-clad Shenzhen Art Museum and Library
V&A names director for Design Museum China
Dundee V&A to tour Scotland before 2017 opening
Europe's premier Evian Spa unveiled at Hôtel Royal in France
Clinique La Prairie unveils health resort in China after two-year project
GoCo Health Innovation City in Sweden plans to lead the world in delivering wellness and new science
Four Seasons announces luxury wellness resort and residences at Amaala
Aman sister brand Janu debuts in Tokyo with four-floor urban wellness retreat
€38m geothermal spa and leisure centre to revitalise Croatian city of Bjelovar
Two Santani eco-friendly wellness resorts coming to Oman, partnered with Omran Group
Kerzner shows confidence in its Siro wellness hotel concept, revealing plans to open 100
Ritz-Carlton, Portland unveils skyline spa inspired by unfolding petals of a rose
Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners are just one of the names behind The Emory hotel London and Surrenne private members club
Peninsula Hot Springs unveils AUS$11.7m sister site in Australian outback
IWBI creates WELL for residential programme to inspire healthy living environments
Conrad Orlando unveils water-inspired spa oasis amid billion-dollar Evermore Resort complex
Studio A+ realises striking urban hot springs retreat in China's Shanxi Province
Populous reveals plans for major e-sports arena in Saudi Arabia
Wake The Tiger launches new 1,000sq m expansion
Othership CEO envisions its urban bathhouses in every city in North America
Merlin teams up with Hasbro and Lego to create Peppa Pig experiences
SHA Wellness unveils highly-anticipated Mexico outpost
One&Only One Za’abeel opens in Dubai featuring striking design by Nikken Sekkei
Luxury spa hotel, Calcot Manor, creates new Grain Store health club
'World's largest' indoor ski centre by 10 Design slated to open in 2025
Murrayshall Country Estate awarded planning permission for multi-million-pound spa and leisure centre
Aman's Janu hotel by Pelli Clarke & Partners will have 4,000sq m of wellness space
Therme Group confirms Incheon Golden Harbor location for South Korean wellbeing resort
Universal Studios eyes the UK for first European resort
King of Bhutan unveils masterplan for Mindfulness City, designed by BIG, Arup and Cistri
Rural locations are the next frontier for expansion for the health club sector
Tonik Associates designs new suburban model for high-end Third Space health and wellness club
Aman sister brand Janu launching in Tokyo in 2024 with design by Denniston's Jean-Michel Gathy
Across Denmark, a charity is turning industrial buildings into centres for street sport and art. As the concept prepares to go global, we speak to the people making it happen
Early-onset MS inspired Adria Lake to explore resilience as both a healing modality and an approach to design in the creation of her new home and company headquarters in Colorado