Press Release
Meng Zhao Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Near Figure Museum in Architecture, Building and Structure Design
Meng Zhao recognized for architecture, building and structure design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Near Figure Museum by Meng Zhao has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Architecture, Building and Structure Design category. The recognition forms part of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Near Figure Museum
Near Figure is a museum designed for Helsinki, Finland. The building explores the state between identifiable and unidentifiable forms. Shapes convey a sense of purpose but remain unresolved, so legibility appears gradually as visitors move through the spaces. Two separate circulation paths are interwoven through changes in the architectural form. The museum holds open galleries, exhibition halls, a cafe, exterior platforms and activity areas. Green concrete and recycled wood improve insulation and reduce carbon emissions. The gross floor area is 6400 square meters.
About Meng Zhao
Meng Zhao is an architectural designer and founder of Chuxin Tuoyuan, a Beijing-based design studio working across cultural, exhibition and spatial design. His work focuses on the relationship between architecture, preservation and public use, exploring how spatial systems can integrate environmental control, narrative and circulation. His projects have received international recognition, including the iF Design Award, BLT Built Design Awards and Architecture MasterPrize, and have been published on platforms such as ArchDaily, Designboom and Domus. Through his practice, he investigates how architecture can operate as a long-term cultural infrastructure within contemporary contexts.
Award Record
This recognition makes Meng Zhao a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Architecture, Building and Structure Design Award
The A' Architecture Design Award is an international architectural design competition recognizing good architectural designs by best architects worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to architectural design studios, building contractors, structural engineering firms and architecture and design consultants from all countries. Typical entries include skyscrapers, museums, residential buildings, commercial complexes, educational institutions and religious structures. The awarded architectural projects are published at https://designers.org/design-category/architecture
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/173036
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/173036
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!173036
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/368939
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/near-figure-evolving
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Near Figure Museum
- Function
- Museum
- Category
- Architecture, Building and Structure Design
- Discipline
- Spatial Design
- Industry
- Architecture
- Colors
- Dark Gray, Dark Slate Gray, Light Slate Gray, Light Steel Blue and Light Blue
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Meng Zhao
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #173036
Credits
- Image Credits
- Designer: Meng Zhao Graphic: Meng Zhao
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Museum in Finland explores the concept of "Near Figure" in architecture, an idea that engages with the critical state between identifiable and unidentifiable forms. This project delves into the tension of architectural progression, capturing a transitional phase where space and form exist in a state of both static and dynamic potential. Through this exploration, the museum represents an evolving symbol of the future of architectural trends.
- Inspiration
- The "Near Figure" concept, where shapes and forms convey a sense of purpose but are deliberately left in a state that resists complete resolution. This ambiguity allows for a new type of legibility-one that emerges gradually as the viewer engages with the structure. Through the concept, the museum pushes the boundaries of contemporary architecture. It symbolizes a shift in architectural thinking towards a more conceptual, evolving expressions of purpose and identity in architecture.
- Research
- The punchline to the project is something called a "near figure." Something with a shape, form or figure that conveys an uncanny sense of purpose, but is unable to be satisfactorily resolved into anything identifiable that could become singular and ultimately repressive. Trying to catch the sense of Progressiveness from mathematic geometry-cube. A series of transformation help to discover the threshold of Progressiveness of Legibility. Figure out the minimal and maximum transition of near figure
- Challenge
- The biggest challenge is exploring the meaning in Architecture. The project invested the big shape/form/figure with an air of purposefulness and will. Since modernism as a global hegemonic attitude was shaken and then definitively overcome by the forces of pomo and decon and the digital revolution, there has been a crisis in the belief that questions such as: How does architecture communicate? What is legible? The notion that meaning is possible or desirable in architecture has been challenged.
- Realization and Technology
- The material choice of concrete plays a central role. Its malleability offers the flexibility to express the tension between clarity and abstraction, making it an ideal medium to embody the critical state of architectural form. Concrete allows for the fluidity of shape transitions, highlighting the project's exploration of thresholds and the notion of purpose in design. The combination of recycled wood with green concrete improve the building's insulation and effectively reduces carbon emissions
- Operation and Interaction
- Two independent and directionally distinct circulation paths are interwoven through the transformation of the architectural form. The building's primary functions include open galleries, exhibition halls, cafe, exterior platforms, and activity areas. Within the public spaces, formal variations and deformations create enclosed functional zones such as offices, kitchen, private dining rooms, lounges, and intimate exhibition rooms.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project located in Helsinki Finland
- Specifications
- Gross floor area: 6400 square meters Project type: Museum, Exhibits, Pavilions
- Keywords
- Museum, Near Figure, Exhibition, Helsinki, Finland, monumental building, city landmark, public space
