China Academy of Arts’ Folk Art Museum

Located among the tea gardens on the outskirts of Hangzhou, the Folk Art Museum of the China Academy of Art by Kengo Kuma is quietly embedded in the sloping terrain. Rather than standing apart from the landscape, the building follows the contours of the site and feels closely tied to the hillsides around it.

Locally sourced materials, including roof tiles collected from old houses in the area, lend the museum a strong sense of memory and continuity. Their layered surfaces echo the textures of everyday architecture in Hangzhou while giving the building a distinctly tactile presence.

Kengo Kuma’s language of lightness, fragmentation, and restraint is present throughout. The museum does not dominate its setting; it settles into it. Between the tea fields, the reused materials, and the careful response to topography, the project offers a calm architectural experience shaped by place.