Zaishu Art Museum – Junya Ishigami
Japanese architect Junya Ishigami has unveiled the one-kilometre-long Zaishui Art Museum on a lake in China, which features openings that let water flow over the museum floor. Located on an artificial lake at the entrance of a new development zone in Rizhao in China’s Shandong Province, the 20,000-square-metre linear museum extends from one side of the lake to the other, almost covering the entire diameter of the lake.
Ishigami wanted the Zaishui Art Museum to feel like it is emerging from under the lake. Parallel columns rise from the bottom of the lake to support a thin concrete roof with a subtly undulating shape.
Glass panelling was inserted between the columns to give visitors views of the lake, with Ishigami intentionally leaving gaps where the building’s floor meets the surface of the lake. This allows water to flow into the building, submerging parts of the floor. In winter, whilst the water surface will freeze, the water underneath remains liquid and will continue to flow into the interior.
