How an Award-Winning Museum Lets the Light In
2023 Best of Year Winner for International Museum
What’s the crowning glory of an innovative, mixed-use addition for the Qujiang Museum of Fine Arts in Xi’an, China, housing retail, hospitality, and events programming? A lanternlike structure anchoring the east entry. Clad in red travertine slabs, the cylindrical edifice by Neri&Hu Design and Research Office features evenly spaced portals that usher daylight down into the walkway wrapping the cylinder’s base, while, up top, a hollowed-out, bowl-shape amphitheater with stepped seating encircles a lightwell that descends straight through the core. It’s a new community beacon—and another home run from the firm led by Interior Design Hall of Fame members Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu.
See Interior Design’s Best of Year Winners and Honorees
Explore must-see projects and innovative products that took home high honors.
PROJECT TEAM
Lyndon Neri; Rossana Hu; Zhao Lei; Ivy Feng; Wenbo Da; Joy Han; Tian Hua; Bella Wu.
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Awards
Explore Interior Design’s 2025 Best of Year Award Winners
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Projects
For 3 Siblings in Singapore, This Siheyuan-Style Build on the Site of Their Childhood Home Offers Room to Grow
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Projects
An Expansive Concrete Home That Dissolves Into The Landscape
A discreet concrete façade conceals a light-filled home in Karmei Yosef by Pitsou Kedem Architects, where sliding glass walls open up to the Elah Valley.