Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    CONSTRUCTION of Shekou Design Museum, the first major museum of design in China, began yesterday with a groundbreaking ceremony at Sea World in Shekou, Nanshan District.

    The ceremony was attended by local government officials, officials from the British Consulate General in Guangzhou and partners dedicated to the birth of the museum, including China Merchants Group (CMG), the Victoria and Albert Museum (the V&A), Guanfu Museum and Japanese architecture studio Maki and Associates.

    The museum, to be opened in 2016, will include an exhibition hall of the V&A, Guanfu Museum and public exhibition areas. The V&A will have a dedicated gallery within the Shekou museum to display works from its collection and Guanfu Museum will take the preservation of cultural artifacts as a top priority in the museum, though details remain under discussion.

    The museum will open part of its exhibitions for free to visitors while charging for designated exhibitions, according to its developer China Merchants Property Development.

    Sun Chengming, vice president of China Merchants Group, said the museum will be built into a landmark cultural complex in Shenzhen that will showcase China’s innovative designs and serve to integrate cultural and commercial functions into a unified whole.

    Zhang Lin, vice general manager of China Merchants Property Development, said the company will strive to strike a balance between commercial, recreational and leisure purposes.

    “The museum will become a platform to introduce new ideas from designers in China as well as for the Pearl River Delta region to push for innovation,” Zhang said. “It will be a base to cultivate our own designers and present good Chinese designs to the world.”

    Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, who will lead his architecture studio Maki and Associates to oversee the museum’s design, said it will share the general idea of many museums, creating more open space for the public to exhibit their works and encouraging mutual communication between designers and citizens.

    Tim Reeve, chief operating officer of the V&A, said the partnership between the V&A and CMG, a collaboration in China between a State-owned enterprise and U.K. public institutions, is truly groundbreaking.

    “We’re very proud of opening a new journey with CMG by creating a new design museum in Shenzhen, which already has a reputation as one of the world’s greatest cities for manufacturing. Recently it began to become known as a home for design, too. This developing creative community, which combines manufacturing with culture, is perfectly aligned with the V&A’s mission,” Reeve said. “It is also special because the V&A has immersed itself in Shenzhen for an extended period of time, getting to know in a much deeper way the community, the culture and the people.”