Meitu Cube – A new Meitu arts center is taking shape on the coast of Xiamen as designers break ground on a cube-shaped building built to open, close, and reconfigure with changing cultural needs—using a double-skin PTFE facade to manage heat, airflow, and light.
The work started quietly in late April, but the intention behind it is impossible to miss: on the coast of Xiamen in southern China, construction is beginning on a cube-shaped arts center designed to “transform itself.”
Known as the Meitu Cube Visual Arts Center. the project is being built on the East Rim coastal area of beaches and lush vegetation and was designed by OPEN Architecture for Meitu Inc. The building has already moved past the initial stages of excavation. With the foundation work now underway, the design team says, “The construction has just begun.”.
Dubbed “The Cube of Change,” the concept is framed as more than a striking form. OPEN Architecture describes the center as an exploration of adaptability—an arts hub engineered to shift with changing cultural needs and evolving technologies.
The cube itself is meant to be the instrument of that change. The firm told Newsweek that it chose the cube form because it “can transform itself into myriad possibilities.” That flexibility. the team said. was the result of extensive testing before settling on “the simplest form. a cube. ” selected to make the most of the compact site while still providing maximum flexibility for digital media and public programming.
At the center of the design is a defining element of the exterior: a perforated facade that can open and close. OPEN Architecture says the “double-skin PTFE facade” is built to facilitate spatial and visual porosity and natural ventilation. reducing solar heat while filtering and softening incoming light. The firm points to PTFE—polytetrafluoroethylene—as a material valued for durability, chemical resistance, and self-cleaning properties. In practical terms, the cube’s tight geometry is paired with a skin that can move with the environment.
Night is part of the plan too. The design firm says the building transforms into “a luminous projection canvas” after dark, with its open facade revealing the interior space. That interior includes a red spiral staircase.
Inside, the Meitu Cube Visual Arts Center is designed to reconfigure rather than simply fill its walls. OPEN Architecture describes the interior as “interlocking spatial components. ” built around “a series of configurable exhibition and gathering spaces. a library and rooftop terraces overlooking the sea.” Galleries and public areas are intended to “transform in scale. atmosphere and function. ” to support exhibitions. installations. performances. and other events.
OPEN Architecture frames the project around questions that reach beyond aesthetics. It told Newsweek that the central issues were: “How do we respond. through architecture. to our time of accelerating cultural. technological and social change?. Can architecture itself change?” The firm also ties “The Cube of Change” to a cultural reference point. saying it drew inspiration from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes.
For the designers. that inspiration points to a broader architectural ethos—flexibility as a way of operating. not a feature bolted onto a fixed plan. The facade can open and close; internal spaces can combine or subdivide; circulation and functional space can interchange; and spaces can multi-function. The team says, “We believe that in a time defined by constant transformation, architecture must also be capable of change.”.
The building is expected to be completed in 2028. Construction began just after excavation was completed, and for now, the most visible transformation is the site itself—preparing to become a cube built to move with the culture it’s meant to host.
China news Xiamen OPEN Architecture Meitu Inc Meitu Cube Visual Arts Center cube-shaped building The Cube of Change PTFE facade architecture design arts center construction cultural hub digital media public programming