City's first submarine museum to rise from historic shipyard landmark
An artist's rendition of the exterior of Shanghai Submarine Museum designed by PES-Architects.
Shanghai's first submarine museum will be built along the Huangpu River on the former site of the historic Jiangnan Shipyard and World Expo 2010 in downtown Huangpu District.
The Shanghai Submarine Museum will feature a retired submarine in one of the three adjacent maritime docks of the historic shipyard which is over 150 years old.
The new museum will be built as a bridge on top of the submarine and across the dock pool, allowing visitors to traverse the site, while leaving most of the dock intact, according to museum designer PES-Architects.
The Helsinki-Shanghai branch of the company won top prize to build the museum in a global design competition arranged by the Shanghai Bund Investment Group.
It will be built in two phases, with the first, covering 500 square meters, scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2022 to provide access to the submarine. The second, to be finished in 2023, will expand the building to 3,000 square meters.
"The design seeks to preserve the industrial dock and showcase the museum with a subtle yet distinctive landmark building that honors the heritage of the site," the company said.
The project is part of an ongoing urban transformation campaign of the city to open up and redevelop the Huangpu River waterfront into continuous green pedestrian tracts involving many preserved historical sites such as the landmark shipyards.
Sidewalks stretching 45 kilometers along the banks of the river between Yangpu and Xupu bridges already have opened. The city plans to extend them upstream and downstream to add to the current sections.
An artist's rendition of the interior of Shanghai Submarine Museum designed by PES-Architects.
According to the Finnish company's design, a rooftop sightseeing deck will finalize the sculptural yet highly functional museum design. A restaurant occupies prime position, allowing direct access from the park and pedestrian areas and providing a panoramic view toward the Huangpu River.
"The design focuses on the three key elements of the site: the dock itself, as a memory of the industrial nature of the site, the museum and the Huangpu River," the company said.
Glass, steel and wood will form an elegant contrast to the rough textures of the museum dock. The same materials and feel are continued in the interior.
The multifunctional exhibition space beneath the museum allows parts of the dock to be separated to form part of an exhibition or event. Various uses of the dock area could include film screenings, festivities or fashion shows.
As a highlight of the design, the floor of the dock will be filled with water as the river level rises. Shallow pools will be formed for children to play along a narrow path to the museum.
An artist's aerial rendition of the proposed Shanghai Submarine Museum designed by PES-Architects.
The shipyard was initially built in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in 1865 by order of Li Hongzhang (1823-1901), a Chinese politician, general and diplomat. It is known as the pioneer of China's modern industrial development.
In its heyday, it hosted 13 factories for machines, ships, guns, gunpowder and steel and covered 43,000 square meters. China's first batch of machine tools, cannons and motor vessels were produced from the site. The country's first frigates and 10,000-ton hydraulic presses were also developed there.
The shipyard was relocated to Changxing Island ahead of World Expo 2010. The former welding workshop, covering 7,000 square meters, was redeveloped as the CSSC Pavilion and was preserved after expo.
China only has a few museums for submarines. The museum in Dalian, Liaoning Province, displays a retired 33 Submarine, one of the main vessels once used by the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The PLA Navy's Museum in Qingdao, east Shandong Province, showcases the retired Changzheng-1 Submarine, known as China's first domestically-built nuclear submarine.
An artistic rendition of the promenade at the Shanghai Submarine Museum designed by PES-Architects.
