A winning design to sit along Hangzhou's Grand Canal

Herzog & de Meuron’s winning design for the Grand Canal Museum Complex in Hangzhou, China, will provide a linear exhibition complex beside the country’s most famous artificial river.

“Our proposal aims to reflect the Grand Canal’s importance in Chinese Cultural and natural landscapes,” say the architecture firm, “and to create a vibrant, contemporary gathering place at the Grand Canal.”

The Grand Canal is the longest and oldest artificial river in the world.

The museum will sit at the southern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, an 1,800-kilometre man-made water system that has assisted China’s economic, cultural and agricultural development for more than 2,500 years. Connecting the country’s north and south, it is the longest and oldest artificial river in the world, and was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2014.

Surrounded by water on three sides, the Grand Canal Museum will be located at the pivotal junction of the Grand Canal and Hanggang River, and at the starting point of Hangzhou’s northern extension, linking the new development to the historic city centre.

Herzog & de Meuron’s winning design aims to reflect the Grand Canal’s importance in Chinese cultural and natural landscapes.

The museum’s façade is comprised of large panes of concave cast glass that resemble rippling water, with the museum reflected in the water and the water in the museum’s façade.

Elevated 12-metres, the museum will have minimal structural elements touching the ground, allowing space below to be freed for a covered and sheltered public area.

A 50,000 square-metre exhibition area will provide panoramic views of the Grand Canal. The setting references the Chinese ideal of harmony between people, buildings and their natural environment, with a waterfront setting to the front and mountain setting to the back of the museum.

A grand ballroom and banquet room will be placed underneath the museum and behind a veil-like glass façade.

A tree-covered promenade is planned to flank the Grand Canal bank, opening up to a park-like urban plaza and connecting the city with the canal. The path meanders through the complex’s extensive landscape, lined by tree and flower species typical of China’s north and south, subtly transitioning as the path wears on.

The additional landscape on the museum’s roof not only provides the project with more green space, but integrates into its stormwater management system for sustainability, and like a mountain plateau, offers views of the canal and Hangzhou’s natural landscape.

The Grand Canal Museum Complex will be topped with a vertical, cone-shaped structure enveloped by a staggered façade. Designed to appear like a mountain, it punctures and therefore connects each storey, creating a vertical city with different functions that together form a whole.

Herzog & de Meuron hope the position of the complex will attract visitors to the site, allowing them to simultaneously appreciate the culture of the museum and the natural beauty of the landscape in which it sits.

Surrounded by water on three sides, the Grand Canal Museum will be located at the pivotal junction of the Grand Canal and Hanggang River.