History brought to life: Completion of Nanning Museum
The new cultural and historical Nanning Museum in Guangxi Province is officially completed! The structure, totalling 20,000 sqm, was designed by COO in cooperation with Leafun Creative Exhibition Company Ltd., and is one of our biggest projects to date. The museum celebrated a soft launch on January 29, 2016.
The Chinese city has a rich cultural background that needed the right backdrop to be shared with the world. “What marked me along the way is not so much the history of the city, but more the feeling I received every time I walked around. Nanning has a very lush, green environment. It makes you feel like you are in another country,” says designer François Aubret of the city. True to form, the museum takes the shape of an almond tree leaf, and is surrounded by nature on all sides.
As part of its living museum concept, the Nanning Museum incorporates spaces that are more than exhibition halls – they are flexible, multifunctional spaces that can be adapted to suit the community’s needs, reaffirming the museum’s focus on enriching the culture and society that the city is known for.
Rather than presenting objects to visitors, the story of Nanning is told in an emotionally engaging way. Different halls centre on significant time periods, people, or traditions in the city’s long history, transporting visitors to what feels like another world.