Suzhou Museum - I M Pei

After seeing -and impressed by- many of the gardens in Suzhou (see HERE), I had high hopes for I M Pei's Suzhou Museum.  Especially having seen his Luce Memorial Chapel in Taiwan.

The Suzhou Museum is all about modern interpretation of the traditional methods utilised in Chinese garden-making.  Whilst the Suzhou Museum employs some of the techniques and elements - such as pond, rockery, diminishing of perspectives, view borrowing...and more..... - the entry, the first point one encounters, already makes a very Westernised decision by exposing people directly to the view beyond.

Beautiful building..... but the liveliness and strength evident in Luce Chapel was nowhere be found.

at the entry forecourt to the museum. sophisticated proportion and material selection was very calming

entry forecourt

automatic doors to entry airlock, when closed, formed some interesting illusional effect together with the oriental suggestion by utilising the circles.

entry porch. when the doors opened (comparing the last photo) the view was taken through the building, directly to the view outside the building opposite the entry. Which was something quite so contradicting to the traditional Chinese garden philosophy - which is suggestive, and a lot of play with imagination by manipulating what is shown and disguised. The moment these doors opened the build-up on approaching the building was instantly questioned.

inside of the museum.  beautiful skylight effects.

looking directly up at one of the skylights

ceiling detail inside the museum gallery rooms. lined fully with timber, the gallery rooms were warm and and elaborated, formed a strong contrast to the architecture itself.

window element reminiscent of the traditional gardens

view of the entry building from the internal courtyard

internal courtyard with formal elements of pond, bridge, and rockery. Can you see the difference comparing with other gardens such as Huan Xiu Shan Zhuang (“Mountain Villa with Embracing Beauty”) or Master of Nets Garden?   By the way one has to cross the bridge to circulate from one side to the other side of the Museum.

More reading on Suzhou Museum:

Suzhou Museum official site

Wangjiangshuo's blog

World Architecture News

Luce Memorial Chapel - I M Pei

When chatting over Friday drinks in the office, we were reminded by one of our staffs who graduated from Tunghai University, Taiwan, of this beautiful chapel on campus we visited a while ago.  It was designed collaboratively by Taiwanese architect, Chen Chi-Kwan, and I M Pei, the recipient of 1983 Pritzker Prize.

Luce Memorial Chapel, is made up of 4 hyperbolic paraboloid shells of ribbed reinforced concrete, rising to 19.2m high above ground.  It was built in 1963 with quite some complicated formwork by local craftsman.

I have this love for simple buildings - buildings with full-on power and honesty. It speaks for itself.

Simple, is probably the hardest thing.

it was towards the end of the summer afternoon when we arrived at Luce Chapel

looking to the main entry of the chapel

inside the chapel - concrete ribbing was exposed internally, showing the structural force at work

the delicate skylight detail at the junction where the concrete shells meet; the connection was refined to its minimum, create such a contrast with the massive force coming down onto the shells and introduced a brilliant lightness to the entire structure 

detail of rainwater drainage at bottom of the shells, which are roofs as well as walls to the chapel

the shells are even more distinct with lighting from inside

Someone wrote in their blog:

... if there was a building that could make me believe in God, this would probably be it.