The recently opened Shanghai Museum of Glass is the latest cultural beacon in a city with more than 100 museums – and counting.

Situated in a former glass factory in Shanghai’s Baoshan District, the 2-storey museum is a gleaming modern structure that stands in stark contrast to its industrial surrounds.

The overall concept for the museum was conceived by Coordination Asia, who worked with architectural firm logon, as well as a team of artists, designers, filmmakers and multimedia specialists to create a museum that not only offers a display of thousands of years of glass history, present day technologies and prominent works of contemporary art, but does so in a highly experiential way with many unique perspectives and activities to engage and inform an audience.

The experience with glass starts outside with transparent glass related words inscribed on a dark glass facade, and illuminated by LED backlights from within the building.

Inside, Coordination Asia has put forth a vision of a space without colour. “The general design concept was to respect the existing building which was a glass workshop before and put a crystalline, black, deep reflecting exhibition body in the space,” says Coordination Asia’s CEO Tilman Thürmer.

“The whole museum is in black, grey and white. All colours come from the exhibits themselves.”

Floors, walls and furniture in black lacquered glass also reflect the numerous LED lights and screens in the museum to create a glittery, multi-dimensional experience for visitors.

On show is a broad collection of ancient Chinese glass, some of them dating back more than 3,500 years, as well as works by internationally renowned artists Dale Chihuly, Steven Weinberg and Stanislav Libensky, and Chinese masters like Zhuang Xiaowei.

The brand-new 5,000 sqm museum, which includes glass blowing and DIY workshops, is only the first phase of a much larger and more ambitious project that’s been planned for the site.

Called the G+ Shanghai Theme Park of Glass and designed by architectural firm logon, the sprawling development, once completed, will feature a sculpture yard, science park, business park and more.

Coordination Asia
coordination-asia.com

logon
logon-architecture.com

Images courtesy of Coordination Asia / © diephotodesigner.de