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WATCH: Global architecture and design highlights, including the Hainan Science and Technology Museum by MAD Architects.

Beijing-based MAD Architects, led by founding architect Ma Yansong, has unveiled its designs for the Hainan Science and Technology Museum in Haikou, the capital of Hainan, one of China’s island provinces. Planned for Haikou’s west coast, surrounded by sports stadiums and a National Wetland Park, the museum will mark MAD’s second major public project in Hainan, following the Cloudscape of Haikou library which opened earlier this year.

MAD’s design for the museum draws from the site’s dual urban and natural context; one where a “primeval rainforest and technology of the future meet,” explains the architects. Set against the backdrop of verdant tropical rainforest, the museum’s main pavilion is shown to be shaped like a cloud in dialogue with nature.

Hainan Science and Technology Museum by MAD Architects

MAD Architects: Hainan Science and Technology Museum

When viewed from a distance, the futuristic building will appear to emerge from the city, while visitors entering the museum will experience it “floating” high above the jungle. “The museum’s facade of fibre-reinforced plastic makes the building distinctive from both near and afar with its silver, reflective exterior and visionary aesthetic,” adds the MAD team.

Encompassing 46,528 square meters, the museum will feature 27,782 square meters of above-ground facilities, including permanent exhibition spaces, a planetarium, a giant-screen theatre and a “flying theatre”. The museum’s interior structure will consist of three floor-to-ceiling cores, curved trusses, spiral ramps, and a roof, “all exposed to achieve harmony between the architectural forms and structural system,” the architects say.

A skylight in the museum’s dome will bathe the spacious atrium in natural light, creating a bright and transparent environment. A spiralling, sloping exhibition space will then ascend from the central hall over five floors, connecting visitors across the museum.

The exhibition experience begins on the fifth floor, where the elevator opens to an observation platform with 360-degree views to the sea and cityscape in the distance. “Visitors on this uppermost floor will begin by exploring the technology and space galleries before proceeding down the ramp to the ocean and life science galleries on the fourth floor,” says the MAD team.

“The math and science galleries [will be] on the third floor, and the multimedia interactive experience area and children’s playground on the second floor.” As visitors travel down the ramp, they can simultaneously enjoy the scenery and the exhibitions, while a gallery running alongside the ramp is designed to extend the viewing experience.

Outside the museum, an undulating canopy is shown to extend from the main pavilion in all directions “to create a space specifically conceived to accommodate the public in Haikou’s humid and rainy climate”. The north side of the canopy will also host the giant screen and flying theatre and, in the southwest corner, the planetarium and observatory.

The museum’s various outdoor public spaces, including a crater-like sunken plaza and reflection pool, offer areas for rest and relaxation. “The diversity of the surrounding tropical plants makes this an ideal setting for learning about nature,” says the architects, adding that visitors will be treated to “more than simply an exhibition-viewing experience”.

An important science venue and a major tourist attraction for Hainan’s trade port, the Hainan Science and Technology Museum will break ground later this month, and is scheduled to be completed and open to the public in 2024. Once up and running, the facility will serve as a destination for the exploration of science, technology and nature, encouraging visitors to seek inspiration from both the urban and natural setting.

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The diversity of the surrounding tropical plants makes this an ideal setting for learning about nature.

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MAD Architects also designed the Jiaxing Civic Centre in China. While Sou Fujimoto Architects has revealed designs for a ‘floating’ tower in Shenzhen. Catch up on more architecture and design highlights. Plus, subscribe to receive the Daily Architecture News e-letter direct to your inbox.

Aranya Cloud Centre / News highlights

Located on the Beidaihe coastline in China’s northeast, the Aranya Cloud Centre by MAD Architects has broken ground and is on-track for delivery this year.
The building will provide multi-purpose facilities to the vibrant arts and culture community of Aranya, including press conference spaces, a small theatre for productions and exhibition rooms.
The “Cloud Centre” received its name for its resemblance to a “floating cloud by the sea”.
Made from hyperbolic white-stained glass, the building’s polished, reflective form is activated by the changing light and landscape.
The perceived “cloud” form is made possible through a series of structural overhangs – the largest stretching 30 metres in length.
Aranya Cloud Centre is planned to open to the public in 2022.

Aranya Cloud Centre (Center) by MAD Architects — Aranya Cloud Centre in China by MAD Architects.

MAD Architects: Imagining a “floating cloud by the sea”

But it’s not until the centre is viewed from a distance – albeit digitally, for now – that the floating illusion comes to life. The building’s polished, reflective form is activated by the changing light and landscape. “The simple, pure aesthetic of the building is achieved through a facade of hyperbolic white-stained glass, creating a seemingly floating form when viewed from afar,” says the architects. “Upon approach, the winding entry road opens up, and the building’s cloud-like form becomes visible.” At its entrance, a pool of water reflects both the building and the clouds above, blurring the line between interior and exterior, architecture and nature.

The perceived “cloud” form is made possible through a series of structural overhangs – the largest stretching 30 metres in length. As a result of these overhangs, the solid white mass of the building appears to hover over a predominately glazed ground floor. “The Cloud’s massing is balanced and suspended from the building’s central core, which provides support for the entire structure and makes its column-free interior space possible,” the architects explain.

The building’s primary internal space – a multi-purpose volume – extends skyward through a swirling ceiling. “Above the spaces, a series of skylights allows ample natural light into the interior to enhance the building’s energy efficiency,” adds the team at MAD. “The building’s open spaces and movable walls offer a high degree of spatial flexibility to meet the needs of exhibitions, theatrical performances, conferences, and a variety of other functions.”

Surrounding the Cloud Centre’s exterior, a low circular wall forms the boundary of a tranquil landscape that appears “detached from reality”. This outwardly cosmic theme continues within the garden, where a series of white-coloured rocks and undulating greenery evokes what the architects equate to “imagery of floating planets dotted across the universe”.

The Aranya Cloud Centre is expected to be completed this year and open to the public in 2022.

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Above the spaces, a series of skylights allows ample natural light into the interior to enhance the building’s energy efficiency.

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Jiaxing Civic Centre by MAD Architects / News highlights

Shanghai-based MAD Architects has released preliminary illustrations of the Jiaxing Civic Centre in China.
Shown to enjoy river views amid forest-lined parklands, the centre is to be situated along the city’s central axis; a prominent position adjacent to South Lake and Central Park.
The site also lies next to the Haiyan River channel, a body of water that connects Jiaxing with the neighbouring city of Haiyan.
“A civic centre, first and foremost, must be a place that attracts people; a place where children, youth, seniors and families are willing to come together on a daily and weekly basis,” says Ma Yansong, founder and principal of MAD Architects.
The centre will contain three venues: the Science and Technology Museum, the Women and Children Activity Centre and the Youth Activity Centre.
Jiaxing Civic Center by MAD Architects is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

For the Jiaxing Civic Centre, MAD feel they have designed an artistic entity on an urban scale, where architectural forms and landscapes fuse together. “We have created an undulating ring to serve as a garden-like living room for the city: an embrace,” explains Ma. “With a large circular lawn as its centrepiece, the project is one where both people and buildings can interact and share, forming a more open, intimate, dynamic urban space.”

The centre’s three venues are linked together “hand in hand”, enclosed by a circular roof to form a single entity. The organic flow of the lines throughout the project echoes the grace of the ancient canal towns that line the southern banks of the Yangtze River in eastern China. “The central circular lawn that anchors the buildings allows for the large architectural volumes to dissipate and dissolve into the landscape,” says the architects.

Jiaxing Civic Centre in China by MAD Architects

Reflecting the materials employed in local architecture, the centre is to be covered with locally produced white ceramic panels. “The panels respond to the traditional barrel tile roofs of the local village, while also enhancing the scheme’s economic and energy efficiency.” Meanwhile, the project’s large-scale ‘floating’ roof forms a continuous skyline – “like a tarp blown by the wind,” the architects say – bringing a sense of softness to the form.

To maintain the cohesiveness of a single entity, the three venues serving exhibition, education and amenity functions are all corralled under the curvaceous roof, forming an interdependent group with a flowing line of movement. The spaces for exhibition, theatre, education, activity, entertainment, and so on, are organically woven together to complement one another.

By avoiding the wasteful duplication of service areas, the design allocates more space to people and nature. “The 6000-square-meter lawn becomes a new type of urban public space, where every citizen can gather, rest and play, in addition to participating in a variety of activities or visiting exhibitions,” explains MAD.

The first floor of the centre is connected to the surrounding environment on all sides “through bordering the municipal traffic and wider landscape or connecting the central lawn with the parklands on the periphery of the building,” says the architects. This partially open, partially private space can be put to use in a variety of ways, including for daily activities or as an open-air plaza for large cultural events.

“A cascading terrace facing the central lawn in the interior of the building acts in a dialogue with the white curved roof,” says MAD. The elements interlock and overlap into multiple semi-outdoor spaces, separated by floor-to-ceiling glazing that blurs the line between interior and exterior. “This is an urban public space for citizens to gather – a fresh [place] for people to wash away the city’s complex clutter.”

Jiaxing Civic Center by MAD Architects is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

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