CROX's organically shaped museum floats on a grassy hill
CROX have created an organically shaped museum in Liyang, China, inspired by a musical instrument that is one of the city's cultural symbols and designed to give the appearance of floating on a grassy hill.
The Liyang Museum is located next to a lake within a public park in a new urban district of the city and is aimed at acting as a connection between the new urban area and nature.
Its above-ground volume covers an area of 12,000sq m (129,000sq ft) on top of the hill, with a further 7,000sq m (75,000sq ft) of underground space built into the hill.
The design references the Jiaoweiqin, seeking to convey the instrument's sound via the shape of the building and sharing the same deep colour of the instrument's wooden form.
In fact, the building's exterior is aluminium, while a glazed curtain wall built into the grassy hill conveys that the hill itself is a functional element of the design.
Wooden pathways, terraces and voids beneath the upper volume provide places for visitors to explore, while a plaza outside the museum at street-level provides public realm for the area.
Construction of the Liyang Museum was completed in September.
CROX museum China










BRC selected to design new World Food Center – will explore sustainability and global food supply

Ritz-Carlton Reserve opens with luxury spa at Japanese alpine ski resort

Scott Brownrigg-designed Museum of Military Medicine in Cardiff given planning approval

Work starts on US$898m e-sports arena in Shanghai

Gyms added to the mix for new super-luxe retail roll-out

OMA designs Miami Beach's ReefLine – a seven mile-long underwater sculpture park

Ole Scheeren and Shigeru Ban team up to design art and cultural destination in Hangzhou

FIFA files criminal complaint over funding of €459m world football museum

ReardonSmith leads design of Heya – a hotel room concept offering personalisation for each guest

Disney reveals first visuals of ambitious Star Wars attraction – including designs for hotel 'pods'

Flaxmill Maltings – the world's first cast-iron framed building – is to be redeveloped as a visitor attraction by Mather & Co

LVMH announces Bulgari Hotel for Miami Beach, with design by Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel

Technogym opens retail store in Los Angeles

AZPML and UKST win competition to design Korean Museum of Urbanism and Architecture

Delos partners with TPP Capital to advance access to health and wellbeing solutions in urban communities

The Well creates integrated wellness retreat in New England countryside for Auberge Resorts

Architects 10 Design reveal plans for ambitious Edinburgh city centre plans

Perth's Boola Bardip museum opens in new AU$400m building designed by Hassell and OMA

UK Government's £1bn scheme to decarbonise is 'a huge opportunity' for the leisure industries

Museum devoted to the history of the US Army opens its doors

Architrave designs Banyan Tree Krabi with rainforest-themed spa

Anantara to debut in Seychelles following rebrand of luxury Bill Bensley-designed resort

World’s first energy-positive hotel and spa to be completed with interiors by Space Copenhagen

3XN design Denmark’s first climate-positive hotel with rooftop spa

BRC Imagination Arts completes new Glenkinchie Distillery brand home for Diageo as part of cycle of Scottish whisky attractions

First look: Contreras Earl Architecture creates Living Coral Biobank for the Great Barrier Reef Legacy

Heatherwick Studio reveals plans for 'The Cove' on San Francisco waterfront

Millimetre Design create new spa for Johnstown Estate in Ireland

B2Ai and SCAU to design new €100m Club Brugge stadium

Legorreta + Legorreta reveal cascading hillside design for Four Seasons Tamarindo
From parks designed to mitigate the effects of flooding to warming huts for one of the world’s coldest cities, these projects have been designed for increasingly extreme climates