Poplars on the Epte by Claude Monet. CHINA DAILY

MAP was designed to look like a large white marble block sitting by the river. The lack of border walls separating the museum and the river bank means that the venue will have many opportunities to interact with the river and nearby spaces, says Nouvel.

You Xudong, an architecture observer and critic, compared Nouvel's design of MAP with his other works in China, such as a new opera house in Shenzhen of Guangdong province, and The Roof, a new mall on Madang Road in Shanghai. While most of Nouvel's other creations are bold and impressive, MAP looks "ordinary and even boring at first sight", he says.

You also points out that other museums in Shanghai feature similar designs that are "ordinary and regular".

"If you have paid attention to China's public culture and art news, you would find that Shanghai has become China's cultural center today," he wrote in an essay.