An industrial museum is planned for Chongqing, China following a competition won by Avanti Architects. The museum will become the centre point in a 22-hectare regeneration masterplan for Dadukou and will blend contemporary design with references to the iron and steelworks which existed on the site in the 1930s.

A new building will form the main vertical and horizontal circulation hub however the museum itself will spread throughout a number of former industrial buildings, focusing largely on the main milling plant. Internally the museum will cover an area of 630,000 sq m and be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. A former gasometer will also be transformed into a business hotel.

Of their winning concept, Avanti Architects says: “The design retains the milling plant’s unique character - but also introduces new tensions. New interventions interact with old features, larger volumes are counter-balanced with intimate, smaller rooms and daylight-filled spaces contrast with ultra low-light interiors. The plan of the museum responds to the sheds’ internal features - the concrete and steel structure as well as cranes, rail tracks, water troughs and floating gantries.”