Upon entering the premises through the antique timber doors visitors are being pulled through the different exhibition spaces. The lobby, where visitors find a spacious welcoming space under the high gabled roof, the Green Box. A glimpse of natural light leads visitors’ movement into the inside of the main hall, and the two-storey main event hall, filled with mysterious light coming through the roof lamella. In the second floor a mezzanine allows smaller scale exhibitions, with views over the main event hall. An outdoor terrace connects to the urban scenery overlooking the Imperial Archives and adjacent hutong structures.
The spatial sequence is planned in a way that visitors encounter a multitude of different moments. A juxtaposition of enclosed and open spaces is simultaneously a juxtaposition of light and dark or warm and cold.