The West Bund Art Museum is located in a future cultural corridor alongside the Shanghai riverfront. The museum is situated at the tip of a new public park. Founded in 2014, the West Bund group organises Shanghai's largest and most prestigious art exhibition inside the West Bund district. Galleries and institutions have established themselves in the cultural hotbed, such as the Long Museum, ShangArt and now the recently realized West Bund Art Museum.
David Chipperfield Architects configured the museum as three monolithic volumes placed in a pin-wheel formation around a central atrium. The architects chose the separate volumes to allow the different components to operate independently. They clad the volumes with recycled glass to makes them iridescent during the day and prismatic at night.
Each of the 17 meters high volumes has two levels. The upper level contains top-lit galleries. The lower level holds variable functions like art studios and education spaces. Large windows at the outer ends of the volumes frame panoramic views on the parc and the riverfront. A colossal tapering column marks the entrance.
The West Bund Art Museum partners with the Centre Pompidou to loan works from its collections and will act as a consultant for its cultural programming, mediation and conservation of artworks.
