A collaboration between Architects Atelier Alter and Hordor Design Group has seen a contemporary setting developed for some of China’s oldest artefacts.

Designed to offer an “anti-gravity” feel, the structural element of the the Qujing Culture Center in Yunnan, China, reflects the stairs below. Housing a collection that dates back to the start of life on earth, the 202,361sq ft (18,800sq m) museum is entered through a central mass reached after ascending a concrete plateau.

A concrete vertical landscape drapes down from the cultural centre’s roof to the ground. As audiences enter the landscape and reach the exhibition zone, “geography and humanity converge at that moment,” according to Atelier.

The Qujing Culture Center, developed on behalf of the Qujing Culture and Sports Center Building Commission in Yunnan, was led by Yan Huang, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Planning Commission. Atelier’s Yingfan Zhang and Xiaojun Bu operated as design architects for the project, while Qiuda Lin and Weining Lin of Hordor were project architects. Forth Construction of the Yunnan Architectural Engineering Group were general contractors for the CN¥177m (US$28.5m, €25.3m, £18.1m) development.

“One could experience the immensity of space and time the city occupies,” said an Atelier representative. “The strong presence of the void reinstates the gravitas of the museum’s subject matter: a profound history dates back 3.8 billion years."