Clay-loving Kengo Kuma creates a captivating curiosity to contain an art museum showcasing the ceramic culture in China’s ceramic capital.
The UCCA Clay Museum, located in Yixing in the southern Jiangsu province, was inspired by the nearby Shushan Mountain and designed to resemble a towering pile of pottery, paying homage to the location’s history of purple clay pottery production.
Arched gaps integrate the unusual building with its surroundings, embracing the canal that flows next door and the forested mountain top in the distance. Close to the museum also sits the dragon kiln, a traditional climbing kiln that has been in continuous use for 600 years.
The multi-hued cladding was made in collaboration with local artisans to represent the ‘temperature’ of pottery firing with the tiles’ uneven surfaces providing a variety of shades that give the building different personalities throughout the changing light of day. Around 3,600 handmade ceramic tiles were used throughout.
Photography by Eiichi Kano and Fangfan Tian
A new post by Hanna Simpson, Diary of a Tile Addict, March 2025.