Qintai Art Museum is located by the Moon Lake in Hanyang District of Wuhan City, facing the Meizi Hill on the other side of the lake to the south. In order to confront the natural atmosphere of the lake in a subtle way, the design takes on a form of undulating natural terrain facing the lake and presses part of the exhibition space underground to make full use of the underground space and reduce the surface building volume as well. Facing the urban road, a vertical facade establishes its urbanity. The formal treatments on these two directions define the relationship between the building and the site.

The undulating roof is refined into an abstract contour-like stepped terrace. Its risers are covered with silver metal surface, and its treads are paved with white stones and low green plants. Together with winding walking path going through the roof, they formed a very experiential landscape. Olafur Eliasson, the famous artist, was invited to create a light installation, the eight color path, for the roof path, with which, the path's color changes as people pass by. Every morning or dusk, people may gather from all over to the roof, and immerse themselves in a unique artistic atmosphere and landscape. The publicity of the space transcends the museum's solitary visual image by accommodating people's activity onto its surface.   

The intervention of art museum redefines the urban space on the south bank of the Moon Lake, and the west side of the museum is reserved for the city square to response the planned Wuhan library in the future. The space of public functions such as the main entrance and culture creative space are placed on this side with a slightly curved facade facing the square to create a sense of enclosure. Part of the museum is still accessible for the public after the closure of the museum, as open ramps link the square directly to the coffee shop on the second floor and the roof courtyard. This strengthens the museum's openness as well as its urbanity on the operational level.

The combination of the exhibition hall and the undulating roof creates a unique exhibition space. The contemporary exhibition hall adopts a layout of free-standing exhibition walls instead of a single viewing route. The exhibition wall is both exhibition surface and supporting structure of the undulating roof. The contemporary art exhibition hall, modern art exhibition hall, ancient art exhibition hall and special exhibition hall of the museum can be independently or successively accessed, which provides a high functional flexibility.