Discover Shenzhen
Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAPE)
深圳当代艺术与城市规划馆
Two museums fused into one silver blob of a building by Coop Himmelb(l)au - contemporary art on one side, the city's planning models on the other, joined by a shared cloud-shaped atrium.
The story
What makes this place special
MOCAPE opened in 2016 on Fuzhong Road, immediately north of the Civic Center on Futian's central axis, after around a decade from design to completion. It was designed by the Austrian practice Coop Himmelb(l)au and won a Luban Prize in 2017. The brief was unusual: two institutions in one building, a contemporary art museum in the southern half and an urban planning exhibition hall in the northern half, sharing a public entrance hall between them. The site covers 29,688 square metres with a gross floor area of 88,185 square metres.
What you’ll discover
From outside, a faceted block whose glass, perforated metal and stone skins twist across a steel frame. Inside, the shared atrium holds a vast polished stainless-steel form — the 'cloud' — that reflects everything and everyone around it and is the most photographed object in the building. The planning hall is the more informative half: models and displays on how Shenzhen was planned and keeps being replanned, which is the city's actual subject. The art museum shows temporary contemporary exhibitions of variable interest.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- The planning hall is the better half, which is the opposite of what visitors assume. If you want to understand how a city of millions was designed in forty years, it is here, in the models.
- Advance booking is required for each visitor individually; children under 14 or anyone without a phone are added to an adult's booking. Do it before you travel across town.
- Check what is in the art half before committing time. Between exhibitions the galleries can be largely closed while the building is still open.
- The atrium and the steel 'cloud' are free to walk into and worth fifteen minutes on their own if you are passing.
- It stands with the Shenzhen Museum's history hall and the city library within a few minutes' walk, all on the same axis — the best indoor cluster in Shenzhen for a wet day.
When to come
Weekday afternoons; any hot or rainy day. Closed Mondays, and the galleries' content varies, so check the current programme.
Getting around
Excellent. New building with step-free approach from the plaza and metro, lifts to all levels, wide level galleries, accessible toilets and plenty of seating. The ramped and stepped interior landscape of the atrium has lift alternatives throughout.
Worth knowing before you go
Bring your passport: the booking system assumes a mainland phone number, but the front desk will register foreign visitors manually.
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