The giant vaults are situated in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, China. This museum covers an area of about 10370 square meters. Named as the Jingdezhen kiln museum, it spins the stories of the historic past of this place. Its campus is located in the centermost part of the area with old kiln complexes around and nearby. All the volumes are vaulted with the old kiln bricks. The bricks picked by school-going children? Directly from the kiln and put inside the bag for a warm day during winters. These kiln bricks are brilliantly used in these vaults by the craftsmen without any reinforcements and scaffoldings. There are two of these kiln bricks along with the mortar in the center. Visitors often pay a visit to this humongous built up which allows them to reminisce about the historic events while transitioning from one spatial vault to the other. Jingdezhen is also known as the porcelain capital since it produced and exported porcelain items worldwide for even more than 1700 years or so. The Chinese thinking technique of porcelain making or the composition of the earth consists of these elements: gold, fire, water, wood, and soil. This is represented in-studio zhu Pei’s design beautifully by providing five sunken courtyards, each dedicated for them. These vaults have to be replaced every year to maintain its high-quality properties.
Talking about the ambiance, situated amongst the ancient ruins of kiln, these vaulted structures affect the sensory experience of the visitors. The gradual passage of a person from one built mass to an open void and then to another mass is simply intriguing. The senses of smell, touch, sight, and hearing of the various elements like water and gentle breeze. The innermost sanctum like space is open to the sky and creates a microclimate within. The arch-like roof is treated advanced, with various textures and patterns on it. One can find spaces dedicated to exhibiting the exhibits, art gallery, museum, library, tea room, cafeteria, etc. well connected with subtle elements like open-air staircases, ramps, etc. . . . The typical structure of the vaults was finalized due to its connection with the civilization of that region. There are a dozen vaulted built-ups on the campus with varying shapes, sizes, and angles. This museum is near other historical monuments, spaces, etc. and on the verge of the Chan River. During the period of the ruling dynasties, Chang River was the trade route as well as an opportunity to travel and earn money. All of these factors play a major role in the design of this museum as these have been crucial to the people who shed their blood, sweat, and tears here in Jingdezhen.
This museum marks all of the historic moments that occurred there over the period and throws light upon the traditional value of it. A mind boggling play of light is noteworthy over here because of the intricate patterns in the vaults for natural and artificial light is imminent. This structure proves the idea of depicting cultural and heritage stance into today’s contemporary art with its key elements in the limelight. Of course, a lot of memories are bonded here by millions of people but this complex creation opens the doors to people of this contemporary world to cover, watch and reflect about the forgotten deeds and events of this place and reiterate new memories and create a lifetime of experiences from these megastructures. This museum is a fair play of beautiful ambiances as it allows people and visitors from the imperial kiln park and other ancient historic places through a passage of dense heavy forest and green canopies on an elevated space through the bridge. Flowing into the foyer place of the museum which has voids and masses all around it. The lush greenery in the foyer place is a wonderful sight to behold. The masses have been carved out intelligently like hollow cylinders, hemispheres, and ellipses. This museum is adjacent to the imperial kiln ruins and aligned with the north-south street grid of Jingdezhen. The adaptation and mingling of this museum along with the cluster of other buildings on a complicated site have been seemingly well fit. The scale of the entire project, the heights especially, has been given deep thought to maintain a certain ambiguity and visibility of the surrounding constructions. The undergrounding of the emphasis of the space the street view inclusiveness and allows more vaults and barrels into the site. Truly a masterpiece on its own, this museum is a mesmerizing blend of the recyclable kiln and the contemporary art of the millennium. Jingdezhen kiln museum has to be on the travel list of all the travel enthusiasts to witness an inspiring and vivid story of china.
