UCCA Dune Art Museum.
We warn you: China will be the most visited country in 2030. But it is that he earns it by hand. Do you want to know what the latest great craze in the country is? You have it right in front of your eyes... That's right the most incredible dune museum on the planet.
As always the phrase reality is stranger than fiction, it's true . What could be an optical illusion turns into a more work of chinese architecture , which is so well blended into the natural environment that it seems as if it had always been there.
On a quiet beach on the coast of the bohai bay , in northern China , is the UCCA Dune Art Museum , a dune museum designed by the studio Open Architecture . His works began in 2015, but it was not until October 2018 when the public was able to open.
First step to access the museum.
His first curiosity is that this dug in the sand and gently disappears between the dunes of the city beach Qinhuangdao. Hundreds of years have been enough for the wind and climatological changes to create these dunes several meters high that have subsequently allowed the construction of the museum.
The result are 10 interconnected galleries and a café who were inspired by the caves of the first hominids. "The primitive home of man, whose walls were once a canvas for some of the oldest works of art of humanity", they point out from UCCA.
Where does the need to create something like this come from? The Open Architecture studio is used to this type of creations in which nature and space are perfectly integrated; they also collaborate in the preservation of this delicate dune ecosystem.
Its main objective has been to conceive a space that lasts and that does not end up with a beach full of buildings or apartments facing the sea as has happened with the rest of the coast.
A cafe with a view.
A tunnel takes visitors into the main gallery, a white space that allows natural light to enter and connects the other rooms and cafeterias of UCCA. “There, a ray of daylight from the skylight it fills the space in a silent but powerful way”, they add from the museum.
Because sustainability has been the axis that perfectly supports the museum. Natural light and the use of sand in the ceilings it has been essential in the finishes and to safeguard the climate, both cold and hot. They also have a system low energy and zero emission heat pump , instead of air conditioning for the summer heat.
Spiral staircase at UCCA.
Local workers, who have worked on the construction of the UCCA Dune Art Museum, are experts in naval building , that is why some of its corners pay homage to the old fishing boats. For example, on the roof terrace with sea views - which is accessed by going up the spiral staircase - and in the wood used.
All finishes have been done by hand, such as the reception desk, the eight tables -each of them different- in the cafeteria and the toilets.
Main gallery.