link-arc shapes shunde museum as stack of rotating tubes to frame wetland views

"Beside a natural habitat for thousands of herons, Shunde Yunlu Wetland Museum by Link-Arc rises within the dense vegetation of a wetland park in China. The museum sits just beyond a line of sequoia trees, set back from nearby paths and waterways to maintain a quiet edge within the park. A central water channel divides the site, and the surrounding trees create both enclosure and filtered views."

"The Shunde Yunlu Wetland Museum is composed of four vertically-stacked concrete 'tubes,' each of which is rotated by the team at Link-Arc to align with a different level of the forest. Lower floors face root and trunk level, while the upper floors frame the crowns and treetops. These precise rotations gives the massing a sense of movement as each volume shifts to frame a specific view."

The museum occupies a sequoia-lined edge of a wetland park, set back from paths and waterways to preserve a quiet boundary and protect heron nesting areas. A central water channel divides the site and surrounding trees provide enclosure and filtered views. The design stacks four cast-in-place concrete tubes, each rotated to frame a distinct forest layer from roots and trunks to crowns and treetops, creating a dynamic stepped mass. Structural box sections support cantilevered parts above the wetland edge. Pine formwork imparts a fine, wood-derived grain to the pale concrete, and terraced rooftop lotus ponds integrate water and landscape.

Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine