The Bihar Museum is the winning entry of an international architecture competition in 2011. Located in Patna, the capital city of the east Indian state of Bihar, the history museum is intended to display the rich artifacts of the region.
Situated on an extensive site of 5.6ha, the low-slung building contains a complex program while preserving prominent trees through an organization based on a campus with dispersed buildings. The exhibition space, children’s museum, entry foyer, and administrative center each have a distinct form, connected in between via arcades and courtyards.
The sequence of the exhibition spaces provides a chronological narrative of India’s history through an alternating experience of diverse interior and exterior spaces.
Given the rich tradition of metal making in India, Corten Steel is featured prominently on the facades, complemented with terracotta and other local materials of Bihar; the building symbolically links the past and the future through its materiality.

Location：

Bihar, India

Completion Date：

2017

Building Type：

Museum

Structural System：

Reinforced Concrete, Steel

Number of Floors：

[Gallery, Entrance, Children's Museum] 2 Stories　　　　　　　　　　　 [Administration] 4 Stories

Site Area：

56,250m²

Building Area：

19,000m²

Total Floor Area：

24,000m²

Architect of Record：

Opolis

Structural Engineer：

Mahendra Raj Consultants

Mechanical / Electrical Engineer：

Design Bureau Consulting Engineers / P.T. Morimura & Associates