The He Art Museum Photo: VCG

 Designboom - an international web magazine covering the fields of industrial design, architecture, and art around the world - has published its Top 10 Museums and Cultural Venues of 2020 list, which includes four Chinese venues.

Altogether six Asian venues made it on the list, which according to Designboom, compiles "the most talked about projects from the previous 12 months." The high ratio of Asian venues could be due to the COVID-19 pandemic putting off the opening of new venues in regions where the virus continued to spread. 

The Imperial Kiln Museum located in East China's Jiangxi Province's Jingdezhen, known as the "porcelain capital" of the world, comprises more than half a dozen brick vaults based on traditional kiln designs that were used in China for thousands of years. The vaults, each a different size, shape and length, are integrated with the many existing ruins, some of which were discovered during the project's construction.

Another art museum in Shunde, South China's Guangdong Province, was also awarded. 

Opened in October, the He Art Museum was designed by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando. Although the museum was named after its founder He Jianfeng, the word he in Chinese carries multiple meanings including harmony, balance, fortune and union, all of which informed the design and spatial character of the building.

Light can enter the interior through a circular opening directly above the gallery atrium, leaving a graceful shadow on the ground and walls of the double spiral staircase.

The museum is home to an art collection that consists of more than 500 works ranging from paintings and calligraphy works to photographs and sculptures.

A museum in Shanghai and a gallery in Beijing also made it onto the list. Located in an alley in close proximity to a 700-year-old Buddhist temple, the Baitasi Hutong Gallery in Beijing contains artist residences and hosts community exhibitions that cater to the needs of creative living and working.