Dune Art Museum, Qinhuangdao, Chinese Building, Interior, Commercial Architecture, Images
Dune Art Museum in Qinhuangdao
Chinese Architecture Development in Qinhuangdao, China – design by OPEN
14 Nov 2018
Dune Art Museum
Design: OPEN
Location: Qinhuangdao, China
Dune Art Museum
Simple, pure, and touching, the design of the Dune Art Museum is a return to primal and timeless forms of space.

Carved into a dune several meters high along a quiet beach in Qinhuangdao, the 930 square meter museum, whose rich program includes ten galleries and a café, gently disappears beneath the sand. Largely enveloped by the dune, its interconnected, organically shaped spaces echo those of caves?the earliest form of human inhabitance, whose walls were once home to some of man?s first works of art.
The decision to create the museum underneath the dune was born out of the architects? deep reverence for nature and their desire to protect the vulnerable dune ecosystem, formed by natural forces over thousands of years.
Because of the museum, the surrounding sand dunes will be preserved instead of leveled to make space for ocean-view real estate developments, as has happened to many other dunes along the shore.

Respect for nature is displayed not only in the building?s unique relationship to its environment, but also in its efforts towards sustainability. Openings throughout the building, each with a different orientation and size, frame the changing expressions of the sea and sky throug...