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PROJECT / CHINESE MUSEUM OF WOMEN & CHILDREN, BEIJING, CHINA
FAMILY HISTORY
Beijing SIGN Electrical Engineering and Beijing United Artists Lighting Design have teamed up once again to create a new Beijing Museum, celebrating the role of women in Chinese society
Located on the north side of East Chang An Avenue, beside the All-China Women’s Federation and the Cha Women’s Activity Center, an unusual structure has for the last four years been taking shape. The Chinese Museum of Women and Children is set apart from its neighbours by a striking ribbed, glass and steel roof structure that wraps around an eyecatching ‘kaleidoscope’ win- dow. Architects, China Architecture Design & Research Group, have taken inspiration from the Woman and Child theme to create a structure abound with curves and colours. The exhibition spaces sit, as if in utero, within the curved structure. A near clinical white interior is warmed by light and playful splashes of colour. In the main entrance lobby and atrium space, a glossy red block of colour dominates one wall, while near-fluorescent green glass banisters edge the landings throughout the atrium.
As with previous projects, like the Shan- dong Radio and Television Center in Jinan
(mondo*arc #54) lighting engineers Beijing SIGN Electrical Engineering Co Ltd worked with lighting designer Wang Dongning of Beijing United Artists Lighting Design Co Ltd to bring the building to life. From the outset, it was agreed that the design should focus on qualitative lighting without getting bogged down in illuminance data alone. The strategy emphasised the importance of a natural lighting effect, aug- menting the available daylight to maximise comfort and energy savings. Wang Dongning met with the architect early in the project to offer advice on the different application of light within the space and how it could be used to double as illumination for the exterior. By allowing the interior light to spill through the atrium windows, the building takes on a lantern- like glow at night. When it came to the interior, however, the team selected high efficiency luminaires that produced less spill light, not only to decrease light ‘noise’ inside the space, but also increase lighting
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