Chengdu Science Fiction Museum Opens for the World Science Fiction Convention

The Chengdu Science Fiction Museum opened in October 2023 on the shore of Jingrong Lake, in the Pidu district in the north-west of Chengdu. Its first event was the 81st World Science Fiction Convention, held from 18 to 22 October, the first Worldcon to take place in China. The Hugo Awards, the genre’s main prizes, were presented in the building’s main hall.

Why Chengdu

Chengdu is the centre of science fiction in China. Science Fiction World, the magazine that has published most of the country’s leading writers since 1979, is based in the city, and Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem first appeared in its pages as a serial in 2006. The city bid for the convention with the promise of a permanent home for the genre, and the museum was the result.

The building

The design is by Zaha Hadid Architects, the London practice that has built widely in China since the death of its founder in 2016. The museum covers 59,000 square metres and appears to float on the lake. Seen from above, its roof is a star with seven points, which the architects describe as a nebula cloud expanding from a centre. The roof extends well beyond the glazed walls to shade the facades, and its underside sweeps up from the water’s edge to a central skylight.

Inside, a large atrium under the skylight leads to exhibition galleries, a theatre, a conference hall and educational spaces arranged on several levels, with views to the lake and to the distant Xiling snow mountain on clear days. The building was designed and built in about twelve months, an unusually short time for a structure of this complexity, using digital models shared between the architects and the contractors in China.

The architects made use of Chengdu’s mild climate. Natural ventilation serves much of the public space, the roof carries photovoltaic panels and rainwater is collected for use in the landscape.

What is inside

After the convention the building opened as a museum, with displays on the history of science fiction in China and abroad, on the science behind it, and on film and games, along with temporary exhibitions and a programme of events for the industry. It is aimed at families and at the city’s large population of students and technology workers.

Visiting

The museum is about 25 kilometres from the centre of Chengdu and can be reached by metro. It makes a half-day visit for those interested in contemporary architecture, and fits with a morning at the panda base or a day trip to the Sanxingdui Museum, which opened its new building a few months earlier. The Temple House remains the best base in the city.