Pritzker Prize-winning French starchitect Jean Nouvel just released official designs for the National Art Museum of China in Beijing, which will house a comprehensive collection of the city's art and calligraphy and apparently plans to be one of "the greatest museums of the world." Inspired by the simplicity of "a single brush stroke," the renderings show a massive, rectangular center thats perforated like a delicate shell, with luscious indoor/outdoor autumnal gardens in full bloom. The glassy interiors also offer about a million different exhibition spaces, a research and education center, and an auditorium, all under a glassy, gold-leaf canopy ceiling. Outside, a spacious grand courtyard sits like an oasis amidst what Nouvel calls "mountainous horizons, reflections of the trees on the boulders" and "reflections of the sky on the sky."
· Jean Nouvel Releases Official Design for National Art Museum of China [Arch Daily]
· All Jean Nouvel posts [Curbed National]