Location: Nanchang, China.

Architect: Lacime Architects.

The Waterfront Art Gallery in Nanchang City is an important entryway into the city’s green zone but is bounded by multilane highways. To mitigate the presence of these highways, Architects conceived of the gallery’s main structure as a narrow rectangular volume whose longest sides overlook the river to the south, and to the north, a walled courtyard that serves as the structure’s organizing feature. Visitors enter the courtyard through an “urban green space” and are faced with two starting points: a glass enclosure of the lounge and a terrace leading to the riverside. The volumes are also dramatic, thanks to their monochromatic appearance and 19,000 striated stone pavers.