The secret to Wuzhen’s success is about celebrating what makes it unique, says the company’s senior planning consultant, Shao Yun. “It also has to feel authentic otherwise we would be just like any other town.”

The town’s new art museum, dedicated to the late painter, scholar, poet and writer Mu Xin (1927-2011), offers a good example of how the company has successfully highlighted local culture. The artist was born in the town and although he moved to the United States after the Cultural Revolution – during which he was imprisoned three times for being an intellectual – he returned home for the last five years of his life, sparking a renewed appreciation for his philosophical writings and ethereal landscape paintings.

The 6,700 square metre building comprises a series of concrete-form modernist cubes “floating” above Yuanbao Lake, and was designed by the New York-based architect Hiroshi Okamoto. Before co-founding his own firm OLI Architecture in 2010, the designer worked with I.M. Pei on the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha and the Miho Institute of Aesthetics in Japan.

The design is a deliberate effort to reinterpret the centuries-old urban landscape in a contemporary yet sensitive way, a welcome change from the outlandish architecture typical of other new art museums opening up across China.

“We spent time in the area and realised it is the waterway that connects and separates you,” Okamoto says. “We wanted to expand and contract space in a physical and experiential way, keeping the scale very low so 60 per cent of the building is at below grade while the landscape of concrete volumes creates multiple viewpoints.”

The design also reflects the town’s traditional use of wood and masonry. “We re-interpreted it in a very light grey tone; concrete using wood to create texture,” Okamoto says. “The colour was very important even though it was very difficult to achieve. It took us many experiments to get the exact shade but in its refined form it is one of the most beautiful building materials.”

Working with untrained local contractors initially proved a significant challenge, especially when it came to creating the complex board-form concrete façade. “At some point, however, the local team suddenly seemed to get what we were trying to do, and from then on they seemed proud of what they were doing and learned very quickly,” Okamoto says.

The ultra contemporary form and materials are also in keeping with Mu Xin’s work, Okamoto says.

“Living in the United States and experiencing classic and contemporary China means his work can be related to in many different ways,” he says.

Inside, this takes the form of an unusual stepped library overlooking a serene traditional stone garden, and a small cafe with triple-height glass doors that open onto a contemplative courtyard pond.

A variety of galleries arranged over three floors offers different experiences of the artist’s work.

“When we first met Mu Xin we noticed that his paintings were at a very small scale so we wanted to present a lot of his work on tables to allow a one-on-one experience,” says Okamoto.

The galleries have also been kept dim, reflecting Mu Xin’s preference for keeping his own living environment and studio darkened. Standout pieces include a series of intricate ethereal landscape paintings – and the artist’s personal cache of handwriting, including extracts from his Prison Notes, which imagined dialogues while he was in prison between him and other famous thinkers and artists.

Okamoto says that when shown the designs for the museum shortly before he passed away, Mu Xin made a sole comment to indicate approval: “Wind, water, and a bridge.”

“We had wanted to recreate the aesthetics of Mu Xin who framed everyday scenes in his stories and paintings,” says Okamoto. “So it was gratifying that he saw what we wanted to evoke with subtle experiences instead of one dramatic form.”