Art-Topia – (Qingdao, China)

HHCP’s Art-Topia complex is prominently featured on Qingdao’s beautiful Pacific coastline, where the ’08 Olympic sailing events took place. Art-Topia will be a place of many ‘firsts,’ including having the honor of featuring the first satellite location of the prestigious National Art Museum of China (NAMOC). As an interactive arts center, Art-Topia will enable visitors to discover art in its many forms: displayed in the galleries…produced on-site by professional artists…and created by the visitors themselves. Whether you dine on culinary masterpieces, groove to themed music at dance clubs, or ultimately explore your creative curiosities and abilities at the 10,000 m2 Creative Arts Exploratorium, Art-Topia will delight. The most unique feature is the Kaleidoscope Atrium which seats 70 people and is the largest kaleidoscope in Asia. Adding to Art-Topia’s grandeur is the Central Plaza Night Show which features a blend of lights, music and fountains beneath the 40m long suspended light strands, creating art in the sky.

The design for the interior atrium of the new NAMOC facility will present the same classic sculptural attributes of form, color, light and motion that shaped the design of the entire Art-Topia complex. Natural light washing through the entry and atrium will create a dramatic effect as light and shadow play across the sculpted interior form. Here, visitors will encounter a trio of intriguing sculptures conceived by HHCP titled “1-PART,” “4-ART,” and “2-PLAY”–the last of which doubles as a children’s interactive climbing structure.

According to NAMOC Director Fan Di’an, “…the spectacular architecture of Art-Topia was a key factor” in the decision to select Qingdao for the first sister city expansion of China’s world renowned museum. For Art-Topia’s visitors, that architecture will soon serve as an invitation to explore the possibilities of art in an engaging new way.