Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou, China

The 60,000sqm comprehensive Guangdong Museum will be sited on the Pearl River and play a pivotal role in the Zhujiang urban expansion of Guangzhou in conjunction with Zaha Hadid's Opera House. Priestman Architects were shortlisted in March 2004 to 3 prize winning finalists alongside Coop Himmelblau and Rocco Design.
As one of the foremost museums in China, the construct will have global, national, and regional iconic presence, embodying the image of Guangzhou as an international metropolis in the 21st Century.
The underlying symbolic content of the building is grounded in myth, landscape, history and modern identity of Guangdong. The building symbolizes the literal hill from where water flows, nourishing the alluvial plains, fields and culture of the region.
Conceived as a seamless public domain within its vertical context, the Museum's landscaping and floor surfaces lift, unfold, reveal and display the treasures and unique qualities of the province.
The geometries generated by pedestrian movement and sightlines, include a non-ticketed 'street' through the building from which exhibitions can be glimpsed.
The roofs of the Museum flow down to the square allowing people to reach the destination restaurant on the metaphorical hill, with panoramic views of the Pearl River.