West Bund Museum

West Bund Museum is located along Longteng Avenue in the Xuhui (Xúhuì) district of Shanghai. This entire riverside stretch along the Huangpu (Huángpǔ) River was once an industrial corridor filled with docks, factories, and warehouses. Over the past decade, Shanghai transformed this riverbank into the West Bund cultural district, turning former industrial land into public parks, promenades, and contemporary art institutions.

The museum opened to the public in 2019 and was designed by the British architect David Chipperfield. If you look at the layout, the building is made up of three large gallery volumes arranged in a pinwheel formation around a central two-story entrance hall. The exterior walls are clad in translucent, recycled glass panels, which give the surfaces a soft, shifting look in different lighting conditions.

The building sits directly on an elevated public esplanade overlooking the water. On the river-facing side, broad steps lead down toward the riverside walkway, intentionally connecting the museum with the park and the promenade so visitors can move freely between the art spaces and the public waterfront.

West Bund Museum is especially known for its major partnership with the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Through this ongoing cross-cultural collaboration, the museum hosts rotating exhibitions featuring modern and contemporary artworks from the Pompidou collection, alongside a wide range of educational programs and public events.

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