Erdos Museum is located in the new city centre of Erdos. Driven by a booming economy, the Municipal Government of Erdos were determined to create this new city, dozens of kilometers away from the current city, on a site that until recently was nothing but the Gobi Desert. The urban masterplan drew a symbolic but empty image of “the Ever Rising Sun on the Grassland”: a rigid and precise series of urban landscapes radiating from a central plaza. This ordered plan fulfilled the wishes of the government, but showed no real consideration for the city’s residents.
The museum was conceived as a reaction to this city plan. It takes the form of a natural, irregular nucleus in contrast with the strict geometry of the masterplan. The structure is wrapped in polished metal louvers to reflect and dissolve the planned surroundings. This shell will enclose a new interior, totally separate from the urban reality.
The interior is divided into several exhibition halls, defined by continuous curvilinear walls, all opening onto the shared public space that runs through the museum. The glazed roof will draw light into this environment, which is then channeled through the building by the luminescent walls, whilst the louvers will allow natural ventilation. The bright, tranquil and fluid environment of this new space will provide visitors with a completely different atmosphere to that which they experience in the city outside.