SNM _ ShenZhen Museum of Natural History
International competition entry
SNM_ShenZhen Natural History Museum
/ Team _ Emanuele Faggion Architetto + Guicciardini&Magni Architetti
Emanuele Faggion [concept, research], Giuseppe Conti [concept, 3D modeling], Giulia Chen [concept, plans, diagrams], Michele Cignini [concept, 3D modeling], Martina Di Pardo [concept, plans, diagrams], Andrea Barbaro [renderings], Piero Guicciardini [exhibition spaces concept], Marco Magni [exhibition spaces layout]
/ Location _ Shenzhen, China /
/ Status _ International competition entry /
/ Year _ 2020 /
/ Functions _ Museum, temporary exhibition, storage and conservation, planetarium, Imax theatre, learning centre /
/ Total GFA _ 100.000 m2 /
/ Team _ Emanuele Faggion Architetto + Guicciardini&Magni Architetti
Emanuele Faggion [concept, research], Giuseppe Conti [concept, 3D modeling], Giulia Chen [concept, plans, diagrams], Michele Cignini [concept, 3D modeling], Martina Di Pardo [concept, plans, diagrams], Andrea Barbaro [renderings], Piero Guicciardini [exhibition spaces concept], Marco Magni [exhibition spaces layout]
/ Location _ Shenzhen, China /
/ Status _ International competition entry /
/ Year _ 2020 /
/ Functions _ Museum, temporary exhibition, storage and conservation, planetarium, Imax theatre, learning centre /
/ Total GFA _ 100.000 m2 /
Natural history exhibition were born as institutions only for professor/researchers or owned by rich families. Its nature was to be accessible only by a very small amount of highly regarded people. Nowadays, the key is to access the higher amount of people, hopefully with the lower knowledge. Today researchers are typically confined in dark and hardly accessible rooms. The shift, especially in the last 30 years, from education to edutainment is significant: nonetheless, the amount of non-exhibition spaces gradually increased to almost equalize the extension of the exhibition areas.
Museums lost definitely their sacred aura, they’re no longer respected, they looks like more theme park rather than cultural institutions, but is this bad? Can we blame the willing of engage the widest audience possible?
The museums seemed very less concerned about it - the big talk was always about white box, non competitive image, etc- and in fact simply maintaining a rather common layout and just incorporating the newly inflated collateral functions.
In the past to go to the museums meant the only way to direct experience of otherwise inaccessible art or historical artifacts or specimens. Is this true in the digital devices era? Since “to see” is no longer the priority, what’s the reason why is still necessary to visit a museum? The answer is given by a massive use of interactive and/or augmented digital devices. So, this means that the today’s state of the art technology implemented will be soon replaced by a better performing one.
Museums lost definitely their sacred aura, they’re no longer respected, they looks like more theme park rather than cultural institutions, but is this bad? Can we blame the willing of engage the widest audience possible?
The museums seemed very less concerned about it - the big talk was always about white box, non competitive image, etc- and in fact simply maintaining a rather common layout and just incorporating the newly inflated collateral functions.
In the past to go to the museums meant the only way to direct experience of otherwise inaccessible art or historical artifacts or specimens. Is this true in the digital devices era? Since “to see” is no longer the priority, what’s the reason why is still necessary to visit a museum? The answer is given by a massive use of interactive and/or augmented digital devices. So, this means that the today’s state of the art technology implemented will be soon replaced by a better performing one.
