The Shanghai Automotive Museum is located in Anting, Shanghai. It is China’s first large-scale museum dedicated exclusively to automobiles and their historical development. Within this newly built museum, the developmental journey of automobiles transcends brand boundaries and is presented through different thematic focuses. When the museum opened in 2006, Stuttgart-based German studio ATELIER BRÜCKNER also made its debut on the Asian continent through this project.
Commissioned by Shanghai International Auto City Development Co., Ltd. (SIAD), a visitor route has been developed. Covering an exhibition area of 2,000 square meters, it illustrates the development from the invention of the wheel to the future of the automobile. Visitors are guided through the building along a timeline. On the ground floor, individual “gateways” within the timeline provide access to theme rooms dedicated to “Exploration and Birth”, “Mass Production”, “Multiplicity and Diversion”, “Design for Speed”, “Sports and Driving”, and “Energy Saving and Compact Cars”. On the museum’s gallery level, some of these themes are revisited, with their significance for the future examined. Through clever visual axis planning, these “Future Prospects” areas are connected to the corresponding theme rooms below.
▲Timeline Channel ©上海汽车博物馆
Each theme room features a unique design. The “Exploration and Birth” room, for instance, is modeled after an inventor’s workshop, allowing visitors to explore the origins of the automobile.
The “Mass Production” room—focused on the beginning of industrial vehicle manufacturing—has the character of an industrial hall, while the “Energy Saving” room draws inspiration from a gas station environment. Visitors can learn about different types of drive fuels at the fuel pumps.
The timeline, which runs through the entire exhibition area and connects the theme rooms, takes its design inspiration from a “motion blur line”. It visually transports museum visitors into the world of movement and speed.
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