Architecture

Airport fuel storage tanks turned into "containers of culture"

Airport fuel storage tanks turned into "containers of culture"
Tank Shanghai took a total of six years to construct and officially opened last week
Tank Shanghai took a total of six years to construct and officially opened last week
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Tank Shanghai involved the repurposing of a former airport's aviation fuel tanks into an arts center
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Tank Shanghai involved the repurposing of a former airport's aviation fuel tanks into an arts center
Tank Shanghai took a total of six years to construct and officially opened last week
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Tank Shanghai took a total of six years to construct and officially opened last week
Tank Shanghai takes up an area of 10,845 sq m (roughly 116,700 sq ft)
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Tank Shanghai takes up an area of 10,845 sq m (roughly 116,700 sq ft)
Tank Shanghai's fuel tanks now serve as a space for live music performances, a restaurant, and art exhibition spaces
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Tank Shanghai's fuel tanks now serve as a space for live music performances, a restaurant, and art exhibition spaces
Tank Shanghai's landscaping is significant and includes a water feature
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Tank Shanghai's landscaping is significant and includes a water feature
Tank Shanghai is situated on the decommissioned Longhua Airport on the banks of Shanghai’s Huangpu River
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Tank Shanghai is situated on the decommissioned Longhua Airport on the banks of Shanghai’s Huangpu River
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OPEN Architecture has been on fine form lately, unveiling excellent projects like the UCCA Dune Art Museum and the under-construction Chapel of Sound. The Beijing-based firm's most recently-completed work is also very well done and involves the repurposing of a former airport into an arts center.

Tank Shanghai takes up an area of 10,845 sq m (roughly 116,700 sq ft) and is situated on the decommissioned Longhua Airport on the banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River.

The project is defined by five large aviation fuel storage tanks, which OPEN Architecture says have been turned into "containers of culture." The tanks were cleaned and painted inside, and also have glazing installed. One tank is now used as a space for live music performances, another is a restaurant, and the remaining three serve as artist's exhibition spaces.

Tank Shanghai's fuel tanks now serve as a space for live music performances, a restaurant, and art exhibition spaces
Tank Shanghai's fuel tanks now serve as a space for live music performances, a restaurant, and art exhibition spaces

Other parts of the former airport, including some firefighting facilities and a former pump house have also been renovated, and these now serve as event spaces.

Elsewhere lies a water feature, a couple of public plazas, and an "Urban Forest" that includes works of art and the old industrial tools and machinery from the site.

Tank Shanghai's landscaping is significant and includes a water feature
Tank Shanghai's landscaping is significant and includes a water feature

"Central to the project's design is a Z-shaped 'Super-Surface' – a new 'ground' above which are undulating parklands in between the tanks, and below which are flexible indoor exhibition and service spaces that connect the tanks to one another," says OPEN Architecture. "Alongside and topographically merged with the Super-Surface, two open plazas and an Urban Forest (partially finished) weave greenery, water features, smaller galleries and public artworks together across the site. In this rich natural and cultural landscape, people can move freely between Nature and Art."

Tank Shanghai took a total of six years to construct and officially opened last week.

Source: OPEN Architecture

View gallery - 6 images
2 comments
2 comments
paul314
I wonder what they did to deal with the reverb in the music space. Circular steel walls with a spherical-section roof could lead to some really serious focus effects.
MichaelStevensonc2504af27a7c4b68
A similar thing was done in Balboa Park in San Diego in the mid-'90's...
https://www.balboapark.org/museums/worldbeat-center