Open Architecture's UCCA Dune is a constellation of concrete caves
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

A curious landscape of primitive concrete caves tucked beneath one of the last remaining sand dunes in Beidaihe, a seaside resort some 300 km from Beijing, is the latest cultural addition to the Aranya Gold Coast Community, a vast coastal resort-residential development, popular with the capital’s elite.
The 930 sq m single-storey structure houses seven indoor and three outdoor galleries and was designed by Beijing-based OPEN Architecture co-founders Li Hu and Huang Wenjing. ‘The context was nature,’ says Li. ‘We didn’t try to relate it to the surrounding development environment.’
For the next five years, the museum will be programmed and operated by the venerable Beijing art institution UCCA, with ‘After Nature', the inaugural exhibition by nine Chinese artists (until April 4, 2019) exploring ‘the shifting relationship between humans and nature against the backdrop of China’s last three decades of breakneck development’. The standout piece is Yang Xinguang’s ‘Mountains', a collection of small concrete hills embedded in the sand outside the Dune.
The 930 sq m structure's curious forms house seven indoor and three outdoor galleries
The entrance to the gallery is through a long tunnel that leads into a series of meandering, interconnected caves of different shapes and sizes. Skylights infuse the curved interiors with a soft natural light and some overlook the sea through large seamless windows. A spiral staircase leads to the rooftop viewing platform. ‘In China, we are so used to buildings of a grand scale but this brings it back to a human scale,’ says Li. ‘We didn’t want a conventional art museum.’
Next year, a causeway will be added leading to a single-room gallery partially submerged in the ocean, accessible by foot at low tide. Li says that from the beginning he has imagined a dialogue between an abstract form presenting one artwork at a time and the primal caves with multiple works.
Although the form appears simple, its complex structure called for thick, strong concrete resting on a two-metre-deep concrete basin. Serendipitously, the contractors came from generations of boat builders and their wooden form work created such a beautiful texture that the designers abandoned their initial plans to plaster the walls.
‘It’s not perfect but that is what I love. You can feel some part of the struggle to make it,” says Li.
ucca dune construction
Inside, the venue launches with 'After Nature', an exhibition by nine Chinese artists
The show includes Yang Xinguang’s 'Mountains', a collection of small concrete hills embedded in the sand outside the Dune
The architects took their design cues from the region's sand dunes
The project is the latest cultural addition to the Aranya Gold Coast Community
The entrance is through a long tunnel
Although the form appears simple, its complex structure called for thick, strong concrete
INFORMATION
For more information visit the website (opens in new tab) of Open Architecture
-
‘A crossover of ideas and emotion’: Simone Rocha on introducing menswear to her label
As the collection arrives at London’s Dover Street Market with a special installation and zine, Simone Rocha speaks about the roots of the menswear offering, the art of collaboration, and a campaign which subverts ‘the archetypes of masculinity’
By Jack Moss • Published
-
Colour Clash is a bold compendium of dazzling supergraphics and logos that pop
Polychromatic perversity in graphic design is celebrated in Colour Clash, a monograph that looks at the new wave of visual expression
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Beacon House is the contemporary rebirth of a midcentury San Francisco home
Beacon House by Edmonds + Lee Architecture is a renovation project that sensitively brings a modernist San Francisco home into the 21st century
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Ma Yansong on global architecture and MAD’s year ahead
We talk to MAD’s Ma Yansong about his thriving studio, global architecture and the year ahead
By Magali Robathan • Published
-
At home with Neri & Hu
Architectural super-pair Neri & Hu talk to us about what inspires them, what they are reading, and how they switch off
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Sydney Modern opens its doors and reveals immersive SANAA architecture
SANAA’s Sydney Modern opens its doors to the public in Australia
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Refreshed Gainsborough House in Suffolk gears up for reopening
Thomas Gainsborough House in Suffolk reopens to a design by architecture studio ZMMA
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Etruscan Galleries at Fondazione Luigi Rovati by Mario Cucinella just flow
In Milan, the Etruscan Galleries at the Fondazione Luigi Rovati, designed by architect Mario Cucinella, open to the public
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
China’s Qingxi Culture and History Museum draws on its surrounding land
Qingxi Culture and History Museum by UAD is a cultural destination in China designed in harmony with its surroundings
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Morphosis unveils flowing Orange County Museum of Art
Explore the curved shapes and expressive interiors of the Orange County Museum of Art by Morphosis, now open in California
By Ellie Stathaki • Last updated
-
Buffalo AKG Art Museum by OMA looks to the future
The Buffalo AKG Art Museum (formerly the Albright-Knox Art Gallery) is reborn with a striking OMA-designed extension, site-specific installations, and a new focus on the local community
By Amy Serafin • Last updated