The Zaishui Art Museum opened in late 2023 and represents an unusual ambition for a relatively small Chinese coastal city: a building by a major international architect (Jun'ya Ishigami, who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019) set beside an artificial lake with a program that includes contemporary art exhibitions, a hotel, and a concrete church alongside the gallery spaces.
The building's relationship with water and light reflects Ishigami's longstanding interest in architecture that blurs the boundary between inside and outside. The surrounding complex includes a horseback riding center, making the whole site a kind of cultural resort. It is a 20- to 30-minute drive from central Rizhao; accessible by taxi or ride-hailing.