Creeping village. New old story
The “Crawling Village” for the Creative Gallery of the China Academy of Art was created by the Japanese architectural firm Kengo Kuma. This is a unique project that combines innovative technology with traditional aesthetics in the spirit of old China. It is a magical and majestic project that attracts visitors from all over the world.

Thousands of curved tiles cover the gabled roofs of the Creative Gallery of the China Academy of Art. The project resembles a small Chinese village.
Photographs by Eiichi Kano
The Folk Art Museum stands on a former tea plantation and is part of the China Academy of Art complex in Hangzhou, on the eastern coast of China. To accommodate 5,000 square meters of gallery space on a sloped site, the Kengo Kuma studio divided the museum into fragments that ascend the wooded hills to the summit. Each fragment of the building looks like a small house with its own pitched roof. The roofs are covered with rows of gray tiles, creating a zigzag pattern.


This shape, along with the use of tiles, distinguishes the gallery from local buildings, allowing it to simultaneously conform to rural and urban parameters. The planning is based on a geometrically clear division of the building’s parts into parallelograms, aligning with the complex topography of the area. Each block has small, separate roofs, making the exterior appear like a village with extended tiled roofs.
Stainless steel wire runs through the glazed facades of the museum, resembling a mesh. Additional tiles are inserted into diamond-shaped gaps in the mesh and, extending inside the building, create a whimsical shadow pattern. A similar method was also used by the firm in the design of the Xinjin Zhi Museum, whose facade features rows of floating tiles.


The idea of using old tiles for screens and roofs came from local traditional houses. They all have different sizes, allowing for a natural effect. The outer wall represents a screen of tiles suspended on stainless steel wire, which controls the amount of sunlight. The stepped shape of the building allowed for a series of two-level galleries, which are interconnected by wooden and stone ramps with mesh balustrades.


The idea behind this project was to create a museum design where one could feel the change in the shape of the land when moving from one level to another and experience the rises and falls of the changing landscape.

Kengo Kuma’s company used a similar approach to landscape integration in the design of the Towada Art Center in Japan, in the design of subway stations in Paris, and in the construction of the Rolex Tower in Dallas.
The Ideologist company has long collaborated with Japanese architectural studios and already has design projects in its portfolio that take the topography of the site into account:
- A residence in Shepelev
- A guest area in the Japanese style
Such a unique Japanese approach to architecture is a hallmark of the company and is actively developing in Russia. We offer our clients the opportunity to create a unique design project for a private residence, a country hotel, or a private gallery, taking into account the topography of the site. The company also collaborates with Ideologist, an experienced consultant in the development of private collections and gallery spaces.