Japan’s Junya.ishigami+associates recently completed an extraordinary 1-km (0.62-mile)-long project in China. Named the Zaishui Art Museum, the building is situated in an artificial lake and even lets the water inside at several points.

The Zaishui Art Museum was commissioned for a burgeoning development in Rizhao, Shandong Province, and takes up most of the length of the artificial lake, near the entrance of the development.

The gently curving building is primarily composed of steel reinforced concrete and glazing. In some areas, this glass can be opened up when the weather is suitable, letting in the breeze, while in other areas the lower sections of the glass panels, under the waterline, have gaps to allow the water to flow indoors.

The interior of the art museum also serves as an exhibition space and shopping center. It’s currently hosting a chocolate display and some related artworks, but has been designed so that its content can be easily changed in the future. There’s also a visitor center nearby that’s topped by a green roof, and as well as multiple pathways offering access to the surrounding landscape.

Arch-Exist/Junya.ishigami+associates

“In this new natural environment created inside a piece of architecture, one senses a landscape in which the scene inside segues into that outside,” explained Junya.ishigami+associates in a press release that was translated by Pamela Miki Associates. “Stroll at leisure inside, and one finds some places with exhibits on large areas of ground, and in others, the ground narrowing, surrounded by a large expanse of water.

“In some places the ceiling is high, allowing in plentiful light and the surrounding scenery; some places are low, ceiling is reflecting on the water, low light slipping, almost crawling across the water’s surface, reflecting on the ceiling. From the apertures opened up when the weather is mild, ripples from the lake outside are relayed into the building as rhythmically quivering water’s surface. In winter the lake outside freezes over. The liquid beneath the ice flows inside through the gaps at the bottom of the glass, pooling there in anticipation of spring.”

Arch-Exist/Junya.ishigami+associates

China boasts many amazing museums and the Zaishui Art Museum joins notable examples like the Shanghai Astronomy Museum, the Chengdu Science Fiction Museum and the Hainan Science and Technology Museum.

Source: Junya.ishigami+associates