Designed by CCTN Design, The Nanjing Museum is inside Zhongshan Gate, at the foot of Purple Mountain, edging along the old city wall in the east. The construction of the main exhibition hall (commonly known as the Old Main Hall) in the original building started in 1935, but was interrupted by the Anti-Japanese War before being completed in 1952; an art exhibition hall was added in 1999. Phase II of the reconstruction and expansion project was initiated in 2004.
Photography: Guangyuan Zhang
This was an important reconstruction and expansion project. Those architects of the old generation, such as Liang Sicheng, Yang Tingbao, Liu Dunzhen, Xu Jingzhi, and others, successively lead or participated in the design and construction of the project, so the structure deserves to be called a ?classic? building. In addition to that, it carried the historical memory of the city. The designer approached the project with great reverence: the new construction was considered the extension of the historic and traditional Nanjing Museum. As a result, the design concept for this project was: ?expansion, integration, and restructuring.? Photography: Guangyuan Zhang
After careful measuring and calculation, the Old Great Hall has been elevated by 9.84 feet (3 meters) on the same spot, so the building no longer lays lower than the city streets themselves. This has been achieved without making any impact on the building itself or to the natural outline of Purple Mountain, all the while minimizi...