Shanghai Astronomy Museum (a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum)

Shanghai Astronomy Museum (a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum)

The Shanghai Astronomy Museum (a branch of the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum) is a science education base.

The Shanghai Astronomy Museum is located at the intersection of Lingang Avenue and North Third Ring Road in Lingang New Town, Pudong New Area. It is about 700 meters from Dishui Lake Station on Shanghai Metro Line 16. The site covers a total area of 58,602 square meters, with a total floor space of 38,164 square meters. The complex includes a main building, the Magic Sun Tower, a youth observation base, a public observatory, a restaurant, and other auxiliary structures, with civil engineering investment of approximately 528 million RMB. Once completed, the Shanghai Astronomy Museum will become the largest astronomy museum in the world by floor area. The project is led by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, with technical support provided by the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was officially approved by the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission on January 29, 2014, and is expected to be completed in 2019 and open to the public in 2020.

Currently, there is only one large-scale astronomy museum in mainland China—the Beijing Planetarium (globally, there are over 4,000 planetariums of various sizes, but only three can be considered “astronomy museums” in mainland China, among which only the Beijing Planetarium is a comprehensive one. Established in 1955, it was once the first large-scale astronomy museum in Asia). In 2010, Academician Ye Shuhua stated to Shanghai’s municipal leaders that deep-space exploration would become a key arena of technological competition among nations in the 21st century, and that China had been conducting highly effective explorations in this field. Building an astronomy museum is crucial for popularizing astronomical science among the general public and providing informal education in astronomy for young people.

The architectural design of the Shanghai Astronomy Museum was created by a joint venture comprising the American-based Ennead Architects and the Shanghai Modern Architectural Design (Group) Co., Ltd. The design embodies the concepts of “celestial bodies” and “orbital motion.” The main building features three distinct circular forms that create a “trinary” structure; its elliptical shape represents the orbital path of celestial bodies, together interpreting the fundamental laws of celestial movement and alluding to the mysterious natural force of “gravity” that has shaped the universe as we know it. The landscape surrounding the main building includes four non-concentric circular pathways that extend naturally outward, symbolizing the spiral arms of a galaxy. The main structure holds hidden design features—such as the “Circular Sky Window,” the “Inverted Dome,” and the “Sphere Light Ring”—which turn the architecture itself into an astronomical instrument. During construction, the museum will implement cutting-edge technologies including full lifecycle BIM applications, rainwater recycling and ecological purification, solar renewable energy utilization, light pipe systems, and geothermal heat pumps, aiming to create an energy-efficient, intelligent, and eco-friendly building.