SHEHONG.- Designed by OPEN Architecture, Shede Culture Museum is located in the East Garden of Shede distillery in Shehong, Sichuan, and was topped out in January 2026. On the misty shore of River Fu, where mountains meander, three island-like architectural volumes emerge from a vast circular pond, manifesting the tectonics of the “One Pond, Three Mountains” Chinese landscaping ideal that traverses tradition and future.
Shehong lies at the base of the Sichuan Basin, a lowland in southwestern China with a perennially temperate, humid climate that produces a lush environment. The distillery, distant from urban areas, is embraced by this natural landscape with exceptional ecological conditions. Non-human actors—air, water, soil, flora, and microbes—combine with enduring local techniques and craftsmanship to produce the distinctive Shede spirits. These interdependent agencies and the resulting responsive processes profoundly inspired the architectural design.
OPEN’s design began by selecting the East Garden—adjacent to a major road and the distillery’s entrance, yet currently underused—as a site with potential to connect the distillery with the public. A 90-meter-diameter circular pond is inserted into the garden and encircled by a semi-transparent covered walkway. The circle, without corners, integrates seamlessly with the existing landscape while staging a serene, poetic precinct for the architecture of the new museum.
Three volumes—the Bronze Box, the Earth Box, and the Glass Box—rise from the pond. One floats above the water, one rests within it, and one is embedded half above and half below the surface. The reflections of the buildings in the pond, the flowing water and the drifting mist, together with the islands and bridges, create an atmospheric ambience evoking the immortal realm of ancient Chinese mythology. Visitors traverse the “mountains” of architecture and the water of the landscape, moving between the dark, immersive exhibition spaces and the shifting views of the waterscape, sensing a deep connection with the natural environment, the cycles of time, and the ancient culture of poetry-and-spirits that Shede embodies.
Spirit is an art of time: a product of nature and time fermenting together. OPEN chooses three natural materials closely related to the making of Shede spirits—raw earth, glass, and bronze—to sculpt a poem of time. The Earth Box uses rammed earth, incorporating the same local yellow mud used in fermentation pits into the wall construction. The Glass Box is sheathed in flowing water that cascades down its surfaces and is continuously recirculated below; it soundlessly tells a story of water, which is the source of life and the undertone of spirits. And the Bronze Box, clad in semi-cylindrical perforated bronze panels inscribed with verses in Morse code, pays homage to the materiality and craftsmanship of spirit vessels and musical instruments, which were traditionally made with bronze.
The three volumes house the museum’s public programs, while spaces beneath the water unify the complex with theater, café, offices, and support facilities. Environmental strategies, including heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, and water recycling, efficiently utilize existing resources and infrastructures near the site and significantly reduce energy expenditure.
Construction is in full swing and is expected to be completed in spring 2027. This project has been awarded the First Prize of the Active House Award 2025.
