Museum of Mao Badges

Located in Anren County in the near suburbs of Chengdu, Jianchuan Museum Precinct is a cluster of multi-purpose buildings developed by a private collector and collectively designed by over twenty Chinese architects. The spatial pattern, type, and scale of the Precinct, by taking the old town of Anren in its vicinity as an archetype, enable the street, alleys, and squares to become the most essential and important urban public space.  Each architect’s work not only must fulfil the requirements of both the functional balance of the Precinct and the morphological definition of its boundaries as set out in the master plan, but has to coordinate with the work of other architects for the overall project.

The Museum of Badges from the Cultural Revolution is one of over twenty theme museums of the precinct.  As an integral part of the a series of museums for art objects from the Cultural Revolution, the Museum of Badges is not intended to create a completely inward orientating spatial sequence; instead, by controlling the visiting routes and the second-floor colonnade, and by taking into account of the local climate, it allows the visitors’ experience of this particular museum to merge pleasantly with their experience of the urban space of the whole precinct.  We believe that the meaning and the presentational effect of the badges reside in their sheer quantity; the collectivism of the badges manifests more effectively their raison d’être than their singularity.  For this reason, we arranged large-scale spaces that render possible the simultaneous presence of large quantities of badges.  We also designed three different types of commercial and residential spaces to satisfy, but at the same time to take full advantage of, variant boundary conditions and planning requirements.  We chose as the material for the main exterior the grey bricks common in the Chengdu region, abstracting and simplifying the brick-laying techniques and ornaments found in the traditional buildings in Anren County.  Furthermore, we employed punched aluminium sheets for outer edges of the shops, where the public and the private reaches a balance; on the other hand, with their round holes and shadows, the punched aluminium sheets—by-products the making of badges—on the outer surface of the Museum implies the existence of the non-presence of the badges.

Location: Anren, Sichuan

Client: Jianchuan Culture Industrial Development Co.,Ltd., Sichuan

Architect: in+of architecture

Project Designer: Wang Lu

Project Team: Zhao Yang, Li Jian, Zhuang Jiandi

Cooperation: Pacific Architects & Contractors Co. Ltd

Structure and Material: Reinforced concrete frame with partial steel frame and Brick walls

Design Period: 2003 - 2004

Construction Period: under construction