The Calligraphy Art Museum is enviously positioned; sited adjacent to wetland park and natural hills and forests of Liupanshui City, China. Liupanshui is located in the west part of Guizhou Province, on the Yungui Plateau where Shuicheng River begins in the mountainous Zhongshan District and flows towards Sancha River.

 

The landscape along the Shuicheng River was recovered as an ecological infrastructure providing ecological services to the region by the renowned planning and landscape design office, Turenscape.

Utilizing landscape approaches at both macro and micro scales, the designers have been able to revitalize and upgrade the ecological, recreational and social value of the Mother River. They created continuous pedestrian and bicycle paths and stepped bio-swales which helps to integrate the urban recreational and ecological space, increasing the accessibility of the riverfront.

The art museum is strategically located at the south west side of the park, facing the Minghu lake and its terraced bio-swales on slope. The park's network of pedestrian walkways and bridges brings people to the museum on top of the hill.

 

The monolithic rectangular glass volumes are combined with the natural slope of the hill and are emphasized with a dazzling red underside finish that visitors notice as walking up to reach the entrance.

The double skin glass envelope provides natural lighting and magnificent views on the lake and surrounding landscape and mountains but also acts as a natural ventilation system placed in such a way that air flows in the intermediate cavity to optimize the energy consumption.

The Exhibition volumes are playfully positioned on top of each other like dancing glass cubes, blending artistically well with the natural environment.

 

The volumes are massively cantilevered as they distance themselves from the hillside and project towards the lake while creating a welcoming character and semi-covered areas around the building. It gives the sense of a floating cube in the air, like a mist in the forest hill, as the visitors find their way up to the entrance of the museum, hiking and traversing the curved stairways.

As the glass facade allows extensive views out to its surroundings, the fritted glass splendidly blends the museum with the forest like context on top of the hill, with its tree like patterns and creates a dazzling play of light and shadow when lit in the night time, which becomes an architectural art piece and cultural landmark for the city.

 

Using the natural slope of the hill, open platforms at different levels act as viewing decks to help visitors appreciate the outdoor natural exhibit and enjoy the beautiful landscape scenery. These platforms are connected ramps and stairs and are oriented masterfully on each side of the building which gives each platform its own character and scenic views. The green roof design also helps to integrate more the volumes into the natural environment and adds to the greenery of the design as a whole.