Huamao Museum of Art Education

This small museum for art education leans against a hillside by a lake. The Portuguese architect, working with a longtime collaborator, gave it an undulating form that seems to hover above the ground, wrapped in metal cladding that catches the shifting daylight.

Visitors reach the entrance only after walking around the building, through a narrow, compressed approach that then opens into a vast void running the full height of the museum. A snaking ramp crosses this space and links every floor.

The sequence of compression and release repeats throughout the visit, and the many routes and links between rooms make the compact building feel large inside. The calm exhibition rooms contrast with the movement of people along the ramp in the central void.