An Invisible Museum Merges Architecture, Ecology, and Bird Conservation, Offering an Immersive Observation of an Urban Bird Sanctuary

The Yunlu Wetland Museum in Shunde by Studio Link-Arc sits within Yunlu Wetland Park, beside an ecological island that is home to 25,000 egrets. Designed as both a bird-watching tower and a museum, the building encourages awareness of wetland ecology while delivering close-range views of wildlife.

View of the wetland museum from the egret island
Photo credit: Arch-Exist

Entrance of the museum
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

Wetland gallery
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

The site’s origins trace back 26 years, when local resident “Uncle Bird” Xian Quanhui planted bamboo and inadvertently created a refuge for migratory egrets. His long-term stewardship eventually transformed the land into what locals call “Egret Paradise.” The Shunde government has since expanded its protected area dramatically, working with researchers and designers to restore waterways, renew bamboo groves, and formalize the area as Yunlu Wetland Park.

View of atrium from the second floor
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

View of the viewfinders from sequoia forest
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

Aerial view of the wetland museum
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

Architects responded to this context by deliberately suppressing the museum’s visual presence. The building is tucked behind cedar trees and formed from four stacked concrete tubes that rotate horizontally like lenses. These apertures frame different ecological scenes, making the building feel secondary to the environment. From neighboring Egret Island, the architecture recedes almost completely into the subtropical forest.

View of the museum from the wetland park
Photo credit: Arch-Exist

View of the museum from a distance
Photo credit: Arch-Exist

View of the wetland museum from north
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

Inside, each tube is oriented toward a different vertical layer of the surrounding vegetation—from roots and trunks to canopies and treetops. Visitors move through staggered sightlines, witnessing bird movement and tree shadows from changing heights. The design subverts a human-centric viewpoint, allowing nature to dominate the narrative.

View of the museum from the wetland park
Photo credit: Arch-Exist

A triangular atrium slices through the four stacked volumes, connecting them vertically and gathering visitors into a shared vantage point. Openings at the ends of the tubes operate like viewfinders, framing scenes like curated landscape paintings.

View of the four viewfinders
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

The museum relies on a box-type concrete structure, its walls and slabs working as unified load-bearing shells. Skylights soften the interior with filtered daylight, allowing visitors to sense seasonal and environmental change inside the building.

A corner of the museum through the lush forest
Photo credit: Arch-Exist

Environmental considerations shaped the project. After documenting 560 existing trees, architects minimized site disturbance by reducing the building’s footprint and adjusting floor positions to preserve native planting while securing optimal bird-watching angles.

View of the wetland museum from the sequoia forest
Photo credit: Tian Fangfang

The museum’s façade uses cast-in-place concrete formed with pine wood, giving it a natural grain that resonates with its wooded surroundings. Above, the roof is submerged beneath lotus ponds, further dissolving the building into the wetland topography.

Studio Link-Arc

Based in New York City, Studio Link-Arc, LLC is an international team of architects and designers. The firm's name, Link-Arc, refers to the practice’s collaborative nature, as well as its mission, which is to work across disciplines to create strategy and design in the fields of urban planning, architecture, spatial art, and landscape. Link-Arc accomplishes that by linking knowledge, resources, and intelligence derived from multiple perspectives and diverse backgrounds.