SANAA has unveiled their design for the Shenzhen Maritime Museum, overlooking the Dapeng Peninsula mountains and Longqi Bay in southern China. The scheme is imagined as a “cloud-like horizontal landmark” says the design team, evoking the imagery of clouds emerging from the sea.

The scheme is organized as a collection of connected hemispheres, made of lattice domes covered by glass and stainless-steel louvres. The form of the roof, designed in collaboration with ARUP, seeks to form organic relationships with its surroundings, cloaked in a semi-transparent material to softly reflect the natural scenery.

The flowing roof structure allows visitors free movement throughout the scheme’s 100,000-square-meter open floor plan. Internally, the museum will feature three exhibition areas organized around a central lobby, and interspersed courtyards. While the roof’s lattice structure remains grounded, the system of glass and metal louvres floats above the base, reinforcing the scheme’s cloud metaphor while enabling connections with the surrounding wetlands.

SANAA’s scheme was selected by way of an international competition that attracted interest from over 170 firms, including UNStudio, Kengo Kuma & Associates, and Sou Fujimoto Architects.

The project is the latest in a line of recent high-profile developments in Shenzhen. Last month, Grimshaw unveiled their mango tree-inspired design for Shenzhen’s international airport and transport hub. Zaha Hadid Architects have also unveiled two recent projects for the Chinese megacity: their competition-winning Tower C at the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base, and their Shenzhen Science and Technology Museum. Meanwhile, the design team was recently selected for Shenzhen’s Natural History Museum; comprising 3XN, B+H, and Zhubo Design.