The Ordos Museum was commissioned in 2005 to China-based international design practice MAD by local government in order to become the centrepiece of the major expansion of Ordos city, the capital of the region. The museum is aimed to celebrate the history of the city, the art and culture of the Mongolian people as well as to symbolically connect heritage and future.
The architectural concept
MAD Architects designed the 41,000 square-foot museum as a giant pod, inspired by both the landscape of the Gobi desert nearby, and the geodesic domes conceived by Buckminster Fuller in the 1940s.
To withstand the cold winter climate and sandstorms typical of the area, the convex, organic, envelope of the building is made in polished aluminum, and, metaphorically speaking, is also a sort of shield, protecting the history of Ordos from the uncertainty that arises from the current, frantic, transformation of the city.
