This kilometer-long museum in Rizhao, a city in China’s Shandong province, rises on an artificial lake with openings to let water in, flooding the floor. The 20,000-square-meter construction presents a dynamic of varying widths and heights. The objective of the scheme is to maximize the architectural work’s engagement with the natural environs, in an ambiguous merging of the limits between inside and outside.

The columns, repeated at regular intervals, define the new lake surface, rising from the rear to hold up a gently undulating concrete roof. In front of the museum is a visitor center, hidden beneath a large green roof also designed by Junya Ishigami + associates.