“Mountain Sites: Views of Laoshan” at Sifang Art Museum

Set in a verdant woodland are a group of luxury villas surrounding a lake that appear like architectural jewels scattered around the water. Standing in contrast to these villas is the strange form of the five-year-old Sifang Art Museum, designed by Steven Holl, an apparent alien presence overlooking the scene. In this contemporary paradise it is hard to imagine the lifestyles of people dwelling in these elite houses. Visiting the site, and getting up close, allows one to experience the tussle between altruistic philanthropy (and a vision where futuristic design is in harmony with nature); the fact that property development is being carved out of virgin soil; and the tension between dream and reality.

This idyllic museum complex, originally conceived in 2003 by father and son collectors Lu Jun and Lu Xun, whose fortunes were built in real-estate development, is still under construction. The villas, which will eventually number 20, are projected, somewhat optimistically, for completion next year. This “settlement” is the manifestation of the Chinese International Practical Exhibition of Architecture, a permanent exhibition of environmentally conscious architecture. At Sifang, rather than wilderness the backdrop to the lake is new housing: an elite compound spreading up into the hills, where the sales office is installed in one of the villas named Pond Lily House (2012), designed by Chilean architect Mathias Klotz. This topography is rich with paradoxes: accessible isolation and decaying development. Several of the extravagant buildings seem to be becoming derelict in advance of completion, showing crumbling, rusted steel and rotting wood. When this reviewer visited in June, the lawns were being aggressively treated with chemicals, and carefully manicured regions were degenerating at the parameters, exposing rubble and detritus.

• China