Devoted to preserving the legacy of the Hakka community, an ethnic and linguistic minority in China, the museum is located in a small rural enclave whose population, according to tradition, renounced agriculture to develop expertise in constructing with stone. This tradition partly determines the shape and material composition of the building, which is formed by large masonry walls set in continuity with the slope of the ground, right where the construction gives way to the landscape. Engagement with the landscape is precisely one of the principal features of the museum, whose walls delimit a sequence of spaces characterized by their varying degrees of permeability. Hence, one of the walls opens its upper part to connect with a preexisting irrigation channel, in such a way that on some days a curtain of water appears inside the building. The spectacularity of this effect is accentuated by dramatic natural light piercing the curtain to form a rainbow...
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