The MOCAPE building is an opportunity to generate a new kind of public space for Shenzhen, a space that redefines the public use of the ground floor and extends in the three dimensions, vertically connecting the city to the new museum. The new building will symbolize the connection between the Museum, the City and its Citizens in the 21st Century.
A combination of dynamic circulation patterns and majestic gathering spaces is the generator of the building form and structure. The floating building creates a flexible area of shaded landscape, allowing sea and land breezes to pass through the site and promoting a new vision of tropical sustainability for the city. The two main institutions of MOCA and PE are clearly defined by the system of public open spaces and yet organically connected in an iconic new complex. The system of horizontal and vertical open spaces is rationally defined by the inverted topography of the structure, containing the transfer beams and columns that carry the loads to the ground.
The ground floor will be open and interconnected with the many realities of the site, offering dedicated entrances to the major programmatic elements of the new complex and independent ramps connecting the main entrance to the lobby of MOCA and PE.
A wide ramp develops in a meandering path through a constellation of special program that offers alternative activities in form of event pavilions along the more traditional exhibition path, providing moments of relaxation and enjoyment to the visitors.
A sequence of interconnected open spaces transforms the MOCAPE into a porous and breathing organism, where the natural elements and the flow of the visitors are constantly interweaved. Different ways of circulating the building provide for radically different experiences. The gentle stairs rising from the central atrium offers an extraordinary journey through the various sections of the museum and a convenient exit way from every level of the building.
