Project Shanghai: Glass Museum

Now that the furnaces have been rehoused and the workers transferred, a former glass factory in Shanghai is shifting it's function from creation and industry, to exhibition and education. Award-winning German architects, logon have spent the past year transforming the site from a cluster of buildings hidden from view behind a bustling Baoshan street, to what is hoped to become a destination museum, showcasing the history, techniques and beauty of glass. Here, Mario Barkley, lead architect and Pascal Hartmann, R&D Director discuss logon's sleek, smart and sensitive renovation.

"It's a huge site 29,000 sqm and 22 buildings which were built over the years as an when they needed them," explains Barkley. Few records of the buildings' beginnings exist, although the oldest unit dates from the late 1950s and the latest, the museum itself, from 1991.




Phase one of the project, due to be completed in just a few weeks, comprises the main museum, newly connected to an smaller entrance building which has been wrapped in a new, logon-built structure, and central axis, off of which will be museum shops, restaurants, cafés and a demonstration area for live glass-blowing shows.

There was a problem, though: set back from the main road, the site was nestled behind a row of existing shops. "It wasn't going to work – you couldn't see the museum from the road", describes Barkley. "They bought another site in front of theirs and demolished the buildings on it to open it up".

The razed buildings were no architectural gems; rather, cheaply built and quickly erected low-level shops, now gone to reveal the museum behind.






The museum's design combines old and new to interesting effect, and in fact, on assessing the buildings, logon realized that little structural work was needed. "We wanted to keep some of the charm and spirit of the old factory. Inside they were dirty from the molten glass, but we actually kept some of that... we tried to demolish as little as possible".

Transformation to exhibition space, then, was straightforward, yet there were still elements lacking for a functional, working museum – namely a suitably distinct entrance space, and importantly, offices.

Hartmann explains, "The building was a whole open space, which posed a problem because of course for a museum you need an entrance lobby, storage and so on. We suggested connecting the two buildings which made for a clearer arrangement. We realized that more space was needed, and so designed a completely new building that wraps around the old one".

"The new building acts as a sort of service belt around the whole thing that provides additional features that the old one lacks. They serve each other", explains Barkley. "Bathrooms, kitchens, additional storage space, offices, air cons – they're all in the service belt. It keeps costs down and means we can preserve a lot of the old building". The new, wrap-around building links to the main exhibition space, a concrete and steel open volume space, which required relatively little modification.




It is the building's façade, though, that is most striking – particularly at night. Industrial glass was shipped over from Germany, coated with an enamel layer and then sandblasted to reveal words in various languages all relating to glass. As daylight fades, LEDS behind random tiles light up, revealing the purpose and passion of the museum.

Construction took less than a year – fast, even by Shanghai's standards – and it was thanks in part to Hartmann and his team's extensive consultation with the client, that kept building time to a minimum.

"We researched existing glass museums – there's a few in the US. They have a lot of programming and facilities across several different areas. In discussions with the client, we discovered that it was this that he really wanted – an exciting museum where people can linger. An exhibition is just one thing, but if you add a landmark, glass show, restaurants, cafés, education facilities, libraries and all these additional functions, you attract not only those individuals specifically interested in glass, but also people looking for a day out".



This in-depth research is a strength of logon, and all projects begin with Hartmann's R&D team exploring and clearly defining the roles of each build. Explains Barkley, "It makes my job so much easier because the function is already there. A target and strategy already in place makes the architecture much more straight forward".

Modern and sleek, the new museum embraces its former, factory incarnation. Due to open to the public in mid-May, the Shanghai Museum of Glass seems set for success, thanks in large to an intelligent, informed and, importantly, sensitive renovation on the part of logon. For further information about the museum, visit their website here, and for logon, here.