UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view - Photo by WU Qingshan
UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view – Photo by WU Qingshan.

China – A a series of inter-connected, organic-shaped cells hidden under the sand dunes compose the UCCA Dune Art Museum by OPEN studio. The urban, landscape and interior design practice has completed a sanctuary for nature and art located in Qinhuangdao on the Northern Chinese coast.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Cafe - Photo by WU Qingshan
Café – Photo by WU Qingshan.

The complex features minimalistic gallery spaces characterized organic-shaped skylights, a café nested under a semi-submerged sinuous architecture facing the beach and a panoramic rooftop blending simple forms with the sea horizon.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Cafe night view - Photo by TIAN Fangfang
Cafe night view – Photo by TIAN Fangfang.

“The UCCA Dune Art Museum’s architecture was conceived to protect the fragile and critical natural component of the coast from the area’s encroaching real-estate developments,” Explain Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, co-founders of New York-based studio OPEN.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Gallery 1 - Photo by WU Qingshan
Gallery space – Photo by WU Qingshan.

“We believe in the innovative power of architecture to transform people and the way they live, while striking a new balance between the manmade and nature,” add at OPEN studio. Indeed, “the museum is deeply committed to the site’s natural ecology and environment, and creates an engaging and non-traditional encounter with art and nature.”

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Outdoor exhibition terrace - Photo by ZAIYE Studio
Outdoor exhibition terrace – Photo by ZAIYE Studio.

UCCA Dune Art Museum won the prestigious AZ Awards by influential architecture and design magazine AZURE. “The Dune Art Museum embodies a unique relationship between interior and exterior. The space speaks of the place, and the materiality coherently fosters the concept,” commented jury member Stefano Pujatti.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Rooftop - Photo by WU Qingshan
Panoramic rooftop – Photo by WU Qingshan.

Pure, simple and touching, the UCCA Dune Art Museum has also been recognized as Iconic Awards Best of Best by German Design Council and named 2019 Building of the Year by Archdaily.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Night view - Photo by TIAN Fangfang
Night view – Photo by TIAN Fangfang.

All photos by Wu Qingshan, Tian Fangfang, Ni Nan and Zaire Studio – Courtesy of OPEN Studio.

UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Skylight - Photo by WU Qingshan
Gallery skylight – Photo by WU Qingshan.
UCCA Dune Art Museum aerial view. Spiral stair case - Photo by WU Qingshan
Spiral stair case – Photo by WU Qingshan.