Luojiamo Art Museum, Weiyuan, Gansu, China

Watching Mountains from the Mountain

Luojiamo Art Museum, Weiyuan, Gansu, China

Weiyuan County in Gansu Province is designated as one of China’s key counties for rural revitalization. The Luojiamo Art Museum was developed as part of the Best Village Homestay Rural Tourism Poverty Alleviation Demonstration Program initiated by the China Foundation for Rural Development. For the design team, the project represents a form of public service and an opportunity to contribute to rural revitalization through architectural and cultural intervention.

The site is surrounded by mountains and open fields with a strong natural presence. An inward-oriented museum was considered inappropriate. Instead, the design opens the museum to the landscape and encourages direct engagement with nature.

The architectural strategy is intentionally restrained. A raised platform is placed within the fields, and a large sheltering roof is constructed above it. Visitors can stand on the platform and access the roof, experiencing the surrounding mountains while being physically embedded within them. The museum becomes an inhabitable “mountain” formed by layered tiles, allowing people to watch mountains from the mountain. Architecture, landscape, and bodily experience are integrated into a continuous spatial sequence.

The roof platform functions as a flexible public space for exhibitions, workshops, gatherings, and everyday activities organized by villagers, artists, and visiting students. Through local construction techniques such as mud plastering and traditional tile laying, the project controls costs while reinforcing local craftsmanship. Evolving from an initial “village living room” concept, the art museum ultimately serves as a shared cultural platform connecting landscape, art, and rural life.