The Six Dynasties Museum | Pei Architects

Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu Province of China, is preparing for several important events this summer, in addition to the 2014 Youth Olympics; Nanjing will witness the opening of The Six Dynasties Museum scheduled to open on 11th August, 2014. The Six Dynasties Museum is part of The Nanjing Hanfujie Plaza Complex, the other component of the plaza is a luxury hotel operated by Starwood Hotels that is scheduled to open on March, 2015.

History
Nanjing, having been the capital of China on several occasions, has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has long been one of China's most important cities. Having been the capital city of six different dynasties since 3 A.D., it is recognized as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.
The Six Dynasties Museum and Nanjing Hanfujie Plaza Complex
Project Design Description
The Six Dynasties Museum and Nanjing Hanfujie Plaza complex occupies a key site adjacent to the historic Nanjing Presidential Palace and includes the Nanjing Six Dynasties Museum, a Boutique Hotel and parking.
The project site is located on the east end of Changjiang Road on the former Hanfujie bus station site. To its east are the Meiyuan Village and an Air Force property; to its west the former Presidential Palace; to its south are Changjiang Road and the Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum; to its north is an existing residential complex. Both the Presidential Palace and the Meiyuan Village are national historical landmarks.
The design scheme takes full advantage of the site configuration and program complexity and responds to the unique location and context of the Nanjing Presidential Palace across the street. The building is organized in two nested L-shaped volumes with a Chinese garden on the third level in the heart of the complex.
The Museum volume projects forward to the south to distinguish the Museum entrance from the rest of the complex as well as to create a plaza along this main road in front of the hotel volume.
The building complex is unified inside and out by the use of two materials that dominate the exterior of the building: a beige limestone which covers the walls and the glass of the fenestrations and skylights.

Museum Component
The museum is mainly organized as an L-shaped volume along the east and north side of the site. The main entrance is located on the site’s Southeast corner facing Changjiang Road.
The double-height Museum entrance is carved underneath the museum’s stone volume of the Southeast façade. The all-glass canopy resting above the entryway frames the main entrance to the museum.
Inside the museum an entrance gallery leads visitors to the monumental atrium covered by a grand skylight. It is in this grand space that visitors enter the Museum Galleries on the 2 and 3 Level and Level B-1 to view the preserved Ancient Relic Wall. An exhibition gallery is also located on the ground level adjacent to the museum’s secure loading dock. A VIP Room and the Museum Shop are located at the Ground Level, a Conference Room at the 2 Level and the Café at the 3 Level.
The grand staircase at the north end of the atrium leads visitors to the Level 2 mezzanine where the Museum’s second gallery is located. A grand staircase and escalators connects to the B- 1 level to the Museum’s Ancient Relic Wall Hall and museum’s support facilities.
On Level 2, visitors take two grand staircases connecting the Museum galleries dedicated to permanent exhibitions. A visitor’s elevator and restrooms are conveniently located south of the atrium on each mezzanine and level B-1.
The Six Dynasties Museum building is designed to house the Nanjing City’s Six Dynasties collection, a time in China’s history when all branches of arts, including calligraphy, fine arts, carvings and sculpture flourished. It is our belief that its architecture should not compete with the museum’s main purpose, but should rather provide the appropriate background.
The elegant yet restrained design of the relic objects of the Six Dynasties period, such as carved brick figurines, ceramic decorated with lotus blossom’s petals and leaves, and carved gold ornaments serve as an inspiration to us for the design of the Museum’s building. This is present in the case of the design of the main entrance glass canopy inspired by a transparent glass jar from Eastern Jin Dynasty found in Xianheguan.
The Museum Main Entry Façade rises 20 meters in limestone, characteristic of the overall Museum complex. The monumentality of the contemporary stone wall provides for the appropriate background to the Museum Logo inspired on the tile-end with Human-Mask from the Wu Dynasty, Three Kingdoms period.

Building Height
The complex is set to a maximum building height at roof level of 24.00 meters. However, the entire complex is set to recognize a 21-meter building height limitation: The building at the Museum’s north façade is primarily set back from the edge at elevation 20.460 meters to reduce the apparent building height and to comply with the shadow requirements on the residential building to the north. At the Hotel’s south wing the complete perimeter edge at the 21-meter elevation slopes inward at 6 Level to a façade profile below a 45-degree angle.
This approach through the complex will preserve the applicability of the sun study on the Museum’s north façade and allows us to respond with a lower building profile towards the Presidential Palace. In addition, this approach allows us to provide a complete top Level 6 floor of hotel-suites with terraces and Hotel Amenity 1 with terraces with views.
Site Circulation, Services and Parking Component
The building can be approached from the south via Han Fu Street with the Museum in the foreground; and from east to west via Changjiang Road. Dongjian Road which runs north-south has been widened to provide a two-way circulation along the street in front of the building but designed to preserve the historic Dongjian road’s look. There is a one-way private road along the north and east sides of the complex for fire department access as well as for access to underground parking and truck dock services located at ground level along the north part of the road. All the service distribution for the complex is handled from a single point at the north façade of the building where services elevators to B-1 Level are located.
Level B2 is an 8-meter MEP level with a portion of this floor split to accommodate 2 parking levels at 4-meters’ height each. The building’s bomb shelter area is also located here. Parking for bicycles is on the B-1 level and can be accessed by means of a ramp located at the north end of the private road along the east side of the complex.