Summary
- The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by BIG is set to open in 2026
- Design features 12 pavilions under a ribbon-like roof, inspired by Suzhou’s garden traditions and waterfront setting.
The Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art (Suzhou MoCA), designed by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), is nearing completion. Commissioned by Suzhou Harmony Development Group, the 60,000-square-meter museum is positioned along the Jinji Lake waterfront as a major new venue for contemporary art, design and public life in China. Conceived as a village of 12 pavilions beneath a continuous, ribbon-like roof, the architecture offers a modern interpretation of the classical garden elements, particularly the lang (“廊”, meaning covered corridor), that have defined the city’s landscape for centuries.
The museum’s architecture is a striking blend of local tradition and modern form. Ten interconnected pavilions are unified beneath a roof whose gentle, conical undulations recall the silhouette of tiled eaves. The individual pavilions are woven together by glazed galleries and porticoes, creating what BIG founder Bjarke Ingels described as a “Chinese knot” of courtyards and exhibition spaces. Clad in rippled and curved glass and warm-toned stainless steel, the façades actively blur the boundaries between the architecture and the surrounding water and gardens. From above, particularly from the nearby Suzhou Ferris wheel, the stainless roof tiles form a distinctive “fifth facade,” branching out like a rhizome to connect the city and the lake.
Ahead of its official opening in 2026, the museum will debut with the exhibition Materialism, curated by BIG itself. This exhibition invites visitors on a material odyssey that begins with stone and concludes with recyclate, exploring how materials like earth, metal, wood, and plastic shape the firm’s architecture. The entire experience is designed to be highly tactile: the seating throughout the galleries is made of the very substances on display, and section plaques are crafted from their corresponding mediums, such as yellow rust stone, rammed earth, and terrazzo. The exhibition features large-scale mock-ups and models of 20 BIG projects, including the studio’s Copenhagen headquarters and Google Bay View, creating a comprehensive journey through texture and form.