Zhi Art Museum

This guide to the Zhi Art Museum in Chengdu traces its decade of near-silence beneath sacred Laojun Mountain, from its completion in 2011 to the day in April 2018 when its doors finally opened. You'll hear how architect Kengo Kuma designed the museum's hand-fixed clay-tile skin and reflecting pools to let the mountain absorb the building rather than announce itself, drawing on Taoist ideas about the strength of water. The route inside spirals from underground darkness up toward the light. Listen for the sound of water trickling between the two pools as you climb the ramp.