Shenzhen Bay Culture Square | MAD architects

Shenzhen Bay Culture Square sits at the heart of Houhai, Nanshan District, Shenzhen — the innovation core and headquarters hub of the Greater Bay Area. On one side rises a dense cluster of skyscrapers; on the other, the site meets Shenzhen Talent Park, the open bay, and continuous stretches of mangrove wetlands, looking out toward Hong Kong.

One of Shenzhen's "Ten Major Cultural Facilities in the New Era," the project was designed by MAD, led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, and Yosuke Hayano, and is now complete after eight years.

The intention was twofold: a platform for global exchange in design and culture, and a coastal public space open to the city all day. People come here to run, spend time with their children, rest, watch the sea, take photographs — and, between the modern city and the ancient ocean, step outside everyday perception into a larger imagination of nature and time.

 "Much of my work is guided by the same question: can public space be more open and equal? Shenzhen is a young, efficient city, and this site was entirely reclaimed from the sea. How can our design turn ancient nature into people's imagination of the future — and make a large cultural building feel intimate, in service of human experience?"
— Ma Yansong, Founder and Principal Partner, MAD Architects

The Roof Becomes a Park

Covering a site of about 51,000 square meters with a floor area of 188,000 square meters, Shenzhen Bay Culture Square is a comprehensive design museum. Through a dispersed layout and access for all, MAD turns the large building into a stretch of open landscape.

The undulating green roofs run straight into Talent Park. On the east side, the road is sunk underground, freeing the whole ground level for pedestrians. Visitors enter from every direction, climb the gentle slopes, follow the winding roof paths, and reach lookouts over the bay. On the west side, facing the main road and the headquarters skyline, two bay passages lined with floating, illuminated display windows run between the north and south halls, open 24 hours; a footbridge links the roof park directly into the urban fabric. City, plaza, and coastline run together. 

An Ancient Future: Water Recedes, Stones Emerge

The site holds two clusters of halls, north and south, spanning creative design and scientific living — exhibition galleries, public education spaces, a design library, and a multifunctional theater.

Starting from the idea of an ancient future, MAD breaks the museum into groups of separate volumes. They step down in height from the city toward the water, so views stay open across the site. The facades are natural white granite, cut into slender strips that follow the curves.

A Spatial Rhythm of Movement and Pause

Entrances open at the building's different urban edges, and there is no fixed route inside. A ring-shaped atrium among the stones connects the galleries; daylight moves through the fair-faced concrete spaces over the course of the day.

In the standard galleries, the ribbed concrete structure is left exposed as the ceiling, with lighting and services tucked within it. The north hall's tallest gallery rises 28 meters, calm and expansive under diffused toplight; the south hall's long-span domed gallery stretches low and wide.

At the center of the site, a shallow pool echoes the coastal wetland, and the plaza and roofs hold outdoor performances, art markets, and festivals through the year.

Beside the Flyway

Shenzhen Bay is a major stopover on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Every autumn and winter, tens of thousands of birds — black-faced spoonbills, plovers, sandpipers — stop in the mangroves to rest and feed. The building stays low and scattered to keep out of their corridor; its roofs are planted only with native species, and the planting between the stones steps down gradually toward the shore, joining the wetland rather than bordering it.

A Cultural Landmark Without a Center

Shenzhen Bay Culture Square is not an isolated landmark but a growing public field, connecting the headquarters district and the coast, the commercial center and cultural space. Birds pass over on their flight paths; people climb the roofs and cut through the site; inside is a quiet space apart from the noise. Ecology, the city, and the human spirit are no longer separate concerns. Answering the speed of the modern city with the idea of ancient nature, the architecture recedes into the background — closing the distance between a cultural institution and its public, and connecting past and future.

Typology: Exhibition Halls, Park

Site Area: approx. 51,000 square meters

Building Area:  188,000 square meters

Principal Partners-in-Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano

Associate Partners-in-Charge: Kin Li,  Tiffany Dahlen

Design Team: Zhang Chao, Li Chunhao, Zhang Kai, Xu Shaohua, Ma Yiran, Li Hui, Yoshio Fukumori, Zhang Yaohui, Sun Feifei, Haruka Tomoeda, Li Gang, Ning Tong, Maria Soledad, Natawat Warotdulyavat, Pan Jifu, Tian Jin, Cao Xi, Cheong Kahou, Li Leyuan,  Sun Jingyi, Gan Mengjia, Wang Fei, Xu Tianyang, Zou Dengyu, Yang Xuebing, Li Xinyun, Huang Jinkun, Lim Zihan, Jiang Linyun, Luis Torres, Neeraj Mahajan, Zhang Tong, Wang Yiwei, Wei Yunzhao, Raquel Valdes, Emma Sanson, Niu Shaobo, Huai Wei, Kenji Hada, He Xin,  Shen Mengfei, Qiang Siyang, Lien I-Ting, Huang Juntao, Zhou Rui

Client: Culture, Media, Tourism, and Sports Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality‌

Construction Agent: China Resources Land (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.‌‌

Construction Unit: Shenzhen Nanshan District Construction and Works Department

Architecture Design: MAD

Executive Architect: East China Architectural Design & Research Institute

Façade Consultant: RFR (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Interior Design: Shanghai Xiandai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute Co., Ltd

Landscape Design: Sasaki, Metrostudio

Lighting Design: Ning Field Lighting Design Corp., Ltd., RDesign International Lighting

Signage Design: Nippon Design Center, Inc. HARA DESIGN INSTITUTE NDC CHINA,Inc

Structural Consultant: Arup International Consultants (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Branch

Landscape BIM Consultant: Shenzhen Hope Design Co., Ltd.

Water Feature Design: Shanghai Sushui Art Design Co, Ltd

Interior Decoration: Design Republic

Acoustic Design:  Guangdong Qiyuan Architectural Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd.

Stage Design: Zhejiang JXZ Stage Consulting Co., Ltd

Traffic Consultant: Paimeng Transportation Consulting (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

General Contractor: China Construction Science and Industry Corporation Ltd.

Responsibilities for cast-in-place concrete: Beijing Yihuida Qingshui Construction Engineering Co., Ltd., Shanghai FairFace Concrete Technology & Development Co., Ltd

Facade Engineering: Shen Zhen Dadi Facade Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Fangda Building Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Interior Engineering: Shenzhen Boda Construction Group Co., Ltd

Photography: Blackstation, Zhu Yumeng, Zhang Chao, Chen Jiaqi, REDFLAG, Hufton+Crow, ACF, Seilao Jiong, HertZest Zhang Taotao

Video: Blackstation