Taichung is the second largest city in Taiwan. There, atop Taichung Central Park, SANAA is designing what the Tokyo office calls a “museumbrary” (museum + library). The Taichung Green Museumbrary brings two existing institutions—Taichung Public Library and Taichung Art Museum—under the same roof.
Taichung Public Library has over 1 million paper and digital books in its collection. And its roommate Taichung Art Museum platforms Taiwanese contemporary artists. To accommodate this complexity, SANAA has ideated 40,000 square feet of indoor galleries and outdoor exhibition spaces, with flexibility in mind.
Taichung Green Museumbrary is broken up into eight interconnected volumes, akin to past SANAA schemes, such as the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Stretched aluminum wire mesh, glass panels, and pre-painted galvanized steel sheets make up the facades. A rooftop garden offers panoramic views of Taichung Central Park and the city beyond.
SANAA founders Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa said Taichung Green Museumbrary will become a locus for multifaceted learning, enabled by the consolidation of diverse programming. “We have always hoped to create an open building that many people can easily participate in,” Sejima and Nishizawa shared in a joint statement.
“Whether it is the museum providing visual learning through art or the library offering education through literature, combining the two to create a new multifaceted learning space is what we believe to be one of the main characteristics of this building,” the architects added. “We have carefully considered how to gently link the two entities together to create a place that connects learning and communication for people.”
The Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government is the client. Ricky Liu & Associates Architects + Planners, a Taichung office, is also on the project team.
For the government, the overall goal is “creating a cultural landmark for an international city,” and “positioning [Taichung] as a hub for artistic exchange between Taiwan and the global community.”
Taichung Green Museumbrary is slated to open in December 2025.
→ Continue reading at The Architect's Newspaper
