Page 135 - JCAU-6-4

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Socialist urbanism and cultural infrastructure facilities

A city’s cultural infrastructure facilities include Yuexiu district on the other side of the city, was necessarily
buildings that hold exhibitions and performances and important, yet the building had a tired façade much the
provide leisure services to the public, and cultural facilities same as untold numbers of late-20 -century cultural
th
without direct public functions and access which include infrastructure facilities in China: Granite slab, white tile,
news and media organizations under the Publicity blue-tinted glass, ungainly pillars (Figure 1).
Department (renamed from the Propaganda Department In 2004, the selection committee for the New Guangdong
in 2008). Among the four priority projects at the provincial Province Museum competition awarded the project to the
level in the Guangzhou plan, the second in the list after Hong Kong firm Rocco Design Architects, a Hong Kong
the Science Museum is the New Guangdong Province firm led by architect Rocco Yim, for their “treasure box”
Museum. On a prime site, two superblocks west of Liede concept, a contemporary interpretation of the Chinese
Village, the New Guangdong Province Museum would collectanea box. Serving as a cabinet for precious objects,
be constructed at the southeast corner of the Tianhe new the treasure box or duobaoge (多宝格) is an object of
city axis. Among five city-level projects, the top three – aesthetic distinction designed to hold the owner’s collection
Guangzhou New Library Building, Guangzhou Grand of precious miniatures. Popular among elites in the imperial
Theater, and New Radio and Television Center – would be era, duobaoge vary in design and material, often finished in
built on the west side of the Tianhe Zhujiang axis, with the lacquer, cinnabar, or stone, and are distinguished by uniquely
radio and television center across the river on the south layered and positioned compartments. The collectanea box
bank. The Guangzhou Grand Theater would become the is a material metaphor for a museum. The Rocco Design
city government’s anchor project, at the southwest corner conceptualization for the New Guangdong Province
of the axis facing the New Guangdong Province Museum. Museum is the miniature curio cabinet blown up, objet d’art

Guangzhou held international design competitions on a monumental scale (Rocco Design Architects, n.d.).
for the cultural facilities that would be constructed in the The New Guangdong Province Museum, also opened in
new city center project. The Guangzhou Urban Planning 2010, has won multiple awards, including the Hong Kong
Bureau organized competitions for the New Guangdong Institute of Architects Medal of the Year 2009, the Chicago
Province Museum, Guangzhou Grand Theater, and Athenaeum International Architecture Award 2014, and
Guangzhou Library New Building. The Ministry of the German Design Council’s Iconic Award 2014. Unlike
Education separately developed the Guangzhou Children’s many iconic buildings whose signature architect conveys
Palace, another infrastructure facility with Soviet origins significance, the New Guangdong Provincial Museum
(Swartz, 1989). The design for the grand theater, awarded to “catapulted Rocco [Yim] into the international spotlight at
Zaha Hadid Architects, broke ground in 2005 and opened the highest level” (Cook, 2013, p. 15). The massive block of
in May 2010 on schedule. However, the time pressure led the building appears to float above its raised site, forming
to compromising the building exterior, “an illustration of a dramatic entryway for visitors on the ground. Among
the predicament of architectural practice when profoundly notable features, the roof continues the design of the
constrained by politics” (Ding, 2019, p. 66). Driven by a exterior walls, to be seen from above and from the viewing
political deadline, the requirement for speed prevailed. platform of Canton Tower across the river (Figure 2).
Nikken Sekkei won the design for the Guangzhou Library
New Building. The Guangzhou No. 2 Children’s Palace,
designed by Steffian Bradley Architects, a now-defunct
Boston firm, opened in 2007.
The success of the new city center arguably hinged
on the completion of the New Guangdong Province
Museum. Like the hierarchy of the governing system,
cultural facilities also represent the rank of the city or
governing body that is responsible for their development
and administration. The highest-ranking facilities tend to
occupy prominent sites. The province’s new museum was
arguably the number one project in the Zhujiang New Town
plan, slated for the southeast corner of the new city center.
It would become the leading leisure destination in Tianhe
for local, domestic, and international visitors. The existing Figure 1. Guangdong Province Museum, ca. 1992. 215 Wenming Road,
Guangdong Province Museum building, at a historic site in Guangzhou. Source: Wikimedia Commons

Volume 6 Issue 4 (2024) 8 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.1995