Guardian auction house in Beijing welcomes a new museum

The Guardian Art Center, designed by Ole Scheeren, one of the principal designers of the CCTV tower and ex-partner of Rem Koolhaas, will be inaugurated in 2016 in the center of Beijing. In addition to the auction house, the new center will offer a museum and an exhibition hall, positioning itself just at the crossroads between traditional culture and modern commerce.

The location, shape, and the nature of the structure emphasize this hybridity. The center will be located at the intersection of the commercial street Wangfujing and Wusi Dajie, which leads directly to the Forbidden City and was “the site where the New Cultural Movement originated after the Qing Dynasty”, tells Scheeren to Dezeen Magazine. Moreover, the shape of the building will respect the scale and integrity of the contemporary city, but its internal structure will also evoke traditional courtyard homes. Finally, the center will be both a cultural and artistic space (with gallery exhibitions, installations, etc), as well as a commercial space dedicated to auction sales.