MVRDV Breaks a Culture Complex Into a Village

MVRDV's Bihailou Art Village in Shenzhen's Shatoujiao district covers 6,500 square metres and holds a museum, a double-height theatre, shops and restaurants. Rather than stacking them inside one mass, the practice gives each function its own volume and connects them with external stairs and ramps. Visitors move between programmes in the open air. Circulation stops being an internal corridor and becomes public ground.

The logic is operational as much as formal. A single-entrance culture building opens and closes as one unit; separate volumes can run on different schedules, letting restaurants stay open late while the museum keeps its own hours. The risk sits in the same decision. Outdoor circulation depends on weather, and Shenzhen summers are humid and wet, so shading and drainage will decide whether the stairs are used at all. Four volumes also cost more to secure, clean and cool than one.