The world’s first ever museum entirely dedicated to the rose has opened in Beijing.
The building, designed by Dutch architect NEXT, is wrapped in a 300m long, 17m high "silk-like skin of stainless steel with a papercut pattern of Chinese roses".
This detached facade creates four half-open courtyards between itself and the main museum building, where the rose pattern is thrown onto the museum’s walls.
At night the building inverts, the museum’s facade lights up and presents the shadows of flowers to viewers from outside.
The design is inspired by traditional Chinese walled-off courtyards, which NEXT says are used in common people’s housing, but also for more complex structures such as temples and palaces.
Jiang Xiaofei, NEXT’s China partner, said: "The Rose Museum aims to create a new architecture for China, in which history and modernity, art and architecture blend".
NEXT collaborated with Beijing Tianheng Building Design Consulting. The building will be the main venue for this year’s World Rose Convention.
Images via NEXT
