Brandston Partnership has created a considered scheme for an art museum in China that unites the old with the new.

The lighting design for the museum reflects its distinctive architecture: where the lower three floors bear the original historical detailing, the upper eleven floors have a new facade.

The lower floors see the arched windows softly illuminated, presenting a sense of light extending from the inside to the outside to cast ambient light as well as showing architectural details, while the new structure has gradient lighting applied on the fourth, seventh and eleventh floors to illuminate the entire window.

The result creates a strength of unity in drawing the old together with the new in pleasing harmony.

This project has been longlisted in the architectural lighting design category of Dezeen Awards 2022.

Designer: Brandston Partnership

Project: Shanghai Rock Bund