Hangzhou: Kengo Kuma completes a new museum

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma completed the construction of the Folk Art Museum, located inside the China’s Academy of Arts’ campus in Hangzhou. Exhibition halls and an auditorium are part of this new museum, which surface reaches 5000 sqm. This work is the latest of a series of other contemporary edifices designed by architect Wang Shu, director of the School of architecture of the CAA and laureate of the 2012 Pritzker Prize. It thus confirms the importance of this academic site for the research, the teaching and the practice of architecture in China.

The building blends with the landscape as it stresses its roof angles, and allows the visitor to catch multiple views of the surrounding natural and urban scenery. The black covered roof setting creates a dynamic effect as it plays with lights and shadows, hence highlighting the utilized materials such as wood and granite.