Rocco Design Architects' Guangdong Museum picks up another international award

Rocco Design Architects Limited's Guangdong Museum in Guangzhou, China has another award to add to the list. This time, the cultural landmark received a Special Mention in the 2015 German Design Award, which is the international premium prize from the German Design Council. Awards are given to top-notch products and projects for their influential contributions to both the German and international design community.

Decked out in an eye-popping quadrilateral façade, the museum has won awards both locally and internationally ever since it was the winning design in a 2004 invited international competition.

The German Design Award ceremony will take place in Frankfurt on February 13, 2015.

Read more about the museum below.

"Guangdong Museum is one of the four cultural landmarks for Zhujiang New Town of Guangzhou. Conceived as an Objet d'Art in a monumental scale, it is an allegory to the   impeccably and intricately sculpted antique Chinese artifacts of a lacquer box, which collects and reflects treasures of the times. The museum is designed to house objects of   treasure, and is also a treasured object of fascination. It is an identifiable cultural icon, giving visitors a memorable experience on the traditional wisdoms as well as the   appreciation of the cultural identity of the city." 

"The spatial arrangement of the museum takes its conceptual reference from the carvings of the legendary Chinese ivory concentric balls. Each carving slices through the museum box and reveals different layers and varying degrees of transparency and dialogues between the interior halls in an intricate and explorative way, which is then extended and reflected on the external façade design. Using materials including aluminium panels, fritted glass and GRC panels, each elevation is uniquely tailored and expressed with different geometric voids recessed into the building mass, forming interesting volumetric patterns that echo and corresponds to the interior spaces behind."

Past awards include German Design Council's Iconic Awards in 2014; Chicago Athenaeum’s International Architecture Award and Silver Prize in the China Weihai International Architectural Design Award Competition in 2013; Architectural Society of China's Architecture Creative Award (Merit Award) in 2011, International Design Awards (Silver Award) in 2010 and Hong Kong Institute of Architects Medal of the Year in 2009.

Project credits

Designed Year: 2004
Completion Year: 2010
Location: Guangzhou, China
Site Area: 41,027 sq. m
Total G.F.A: 66,980 sq. m
Project Team: Rocco Yim, William Tam, CM Chan, Derrick Tsang, Lucia Cheung, Grace Lin, Ivan Chui, Christina Chan, Chris Wong, Amber Wang, Ricky Wang
Client: Guangdong Museum

Images courtesy of Rocco Design Architects Limited.