Location: Fujian, China.

Architect: Atelier Alter Architects.

The Rebirth of the Crystalline Space is a museum located in Fujian, China, dedicated to showcasing fossils discovered during stone mining. The museum is housed in the headquarters building of the manufacturing company that discovered the fossils. The renovation process faced two major challenges: the conflict between private headquarters and public museum, and the direct sunlight gained at the atrium space. To address these challenges, the architects introduced three intersected crystalloids into the atrium space, which allowed sunlight to enter the museum while limiting it in the office space. The horizontal crystalloids also introduced sunlight to the interior space along with their growing direction. The finalized renovation appeared in the form of a penetrated Cartesian grid, transforming the orthogonal system of columns and beams into each illuminated but mysterious triangulate space. The inside and outside of the atrium spaces were divided into the museum and office space, while the interior space of the museum appears into a complicated inside of the crystal with endless growth. The walls are not only the boundaries of different functions but also reformed into a calm and cold, cave-like environment, which makes the geological fossil look even more aged. The material used within the project is quite and sententious to highlight how sunlight touches the spaces and provide an appropriate exhibition environment to the archaic fossils. The project was completed in January 2020, and the total cost was $1,325,965.

Photo credit: Atelier Alter Architects.