Among the many new towns in China, Lingang New City is probably the one with the most exceptional design history and urban layout. Inspired by a drop hitting the water’s surface and causing ripples, Meinhard von Gerkan’s (gmp) design for the entire town for 800 000 people 60 km south of Shanghai is being built entirely on reclaimed land. Water plays a pivotal role in every sense in the overall urban scheme. For example, the centre of the town is marked by a huge artificial lake covering 8 km2, thus creating the paradox of what one might call an “empty” centre. It therefore does not come as a surprise to learn that China’s first National Maritime Museum (Fig. 1) is one of the first buildings to be realized in Lingang New City, a town literally built on water.