Studio Zhu-Pei housed galleries within vaulted red-brick structures to create the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in Jiangxi province, China.
Located in the city of Jingdezhen, the museum's sweeping structures each have a unique size, curvature and length, designed by Studio Zhu-Pei to recall the forms of traditional brick kilns.
Vaulted brick structures make up Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum
Both Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum's design and contents pay homage to the city's history of making ceramics, for which it has been dubbed as the world's "porcelain capital".
It is positioned adjacent to some of the city's imperial kiln ruins, which date back to the Ming Dynasty and were once used to produce porcelain for the imperial family. The museum is designed to evoke traditional brick kilns
"Jingdezhen is known as the porcelain capital of the world because it has been producing pottery for 1,700 years," explained the Beijing studio.
"The overall experience of the museum tries to rediscover the roots of Jingdezhen, to recreate the past experience among kilns, porcelain, and human beings."
Sunken courtyards are positioned between the vaulted structures
Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum's galleries were carefully positioned by Studio Zhu-Pei on site to accommodate the existing kiln ruins, some of which were discovered during construction.
They are partially sunken below ground to maximise the museum's building height without imposing on surrounding b...