The Taichung Green Museumbrary, located in Taiwan’s second-largest city, has emerged as one of the country’s most significant cultural landmarks of 2025. Designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architecture firm SANAA, the project brings together two major public institutions—the Taichung Art Museum and the Taichung Public Library—within a single, fluid architectural composition. Officially opened on December 13, 2025, the building marks SANAA’s first public project in Taiwan and its largest cultural commission to date.
Conceived as both “a library in a park and an art museum in a forest,” the Taichung Green Museumbrary introduces a new model for civic architecture—one that dissolves boundaries between learning, art, landscape, and everyday urban life.
A Landmark Cultural Development in Taichung
Situated within Taichung’s 67-hectare Central Park, the museum complex forms part of the larger Shuinan Trade and Economic Park, a 254-hectare redevelopment of a former military airport that closed in 2004. As Taichung continues to evolve into a major cultural and economic hub with a population of nearly 2.8 million, the Green Museumbrary stands as a symbol of the city’s future-facing ambitions.
Key project facts include:
- Architect: SANAA (Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa)
- Local collaborator: Ricky Liu & Associates Architects + Planners
- Total floor area: 57,996 square metres
- Project type: Art museum + public library
- Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Architecture of Lightness and Transparency
SANAA’s design is composed of eight interconnected volumes of varying sizes, arranged horizontally across the site. Rather than imposing a singular monumental form, the building reads as a constellation of light, low-rise pavilions that gently merge with the surrounding park landscape.
The façade system plays a central role in expressing the project’s architectural philosophy:
- A two-layer façade combines an outer skin of aluminum expanded metal mesh with an inner layer of high-performance low-emissivity glass or metal panels.
- The silvery-white curtain creates a soft, translucent appearance, allowing the building to appear light, airy, and constantly changing with daylight.
- Transparency is carefully calibrated, offering visual connections between interior spaces and the surrounding greenery while controlling heat and glare.
By lifting portions of the building volume, SANAA allows natural light and park breezes to flow freely through the complex, reinforcing a sense of openness and environmental responsiveness.
An Open Building for an Open City
Accessibility and inclusivity are core to the project’s concept. The Green Museumbrary can be entered from all directions, connecting seamlessly with surrounding neighborhoods and Central Park. At ground level, shaded public plazas act as transitional spaces where visitors can gather, rest, or simply pass through.
According to SANAA partners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, the goal was to create a building that encourages participation:
“We have always hoped to create an open building that many people can easily participate in. Whether it is the museum providing visual learning through art or the library offering education through literature, combining the two creates a new multifaceted learning space.”
Blurring the Line Between Museum and Library
One of the project’s most innovative aspects is its seamless integration of cultural functions. Rather than separating the museum and library into distinct zones, SANAA designed shared spaces that encourage overlap and interaction.
Highlights include:
- A central atrium that visually and spatially connects different programmatic areas
- Rooftop spaces known as the “Culture Forest,” offering outdoor reading and gathering areas
- Flexible interiors that support exhibitions, quiet study, digital learning, and public events
The Taichung Public Library houses more than one million physical books and digital resources, while the Taichung Art Museum (TcAM) positions itself as a platform for contemporary art and international dialogue.
A Global Cultural Platform
The museum opened with an ambitious inaugural exhibition titled “A Call of All Beings: See you tomorrow, same time, same place,” running from December 13, 2025, to April 12, 2026. Curated by an international team from Taiwan, Romania/South Korea, and the United States, the exhibition features:
- Over 70 artists
- Representation from more than 20 countries
- A blend of regional perspectives and global narratives
In addition, the museum has launched its TcAM Art Commissions in Public Space, featuring works by artists such as Haegue Yang and Michael Lin, reinforcing its role as an active cultural participant rather than a passive exhibition venue.
Architecture that Connects City, Culture, and Nature
Yi-Hsin Lai, Director of Taichung Art Museum, emphasizes the project’s broader impact:
“The integration of the art museum with the public library and the park has activated our thinking about the environment, culture, people, and the city.”
By embedding cultural institutions within a park setting and emphasizing openness over monumentality, SANAA’s design allows art and learning to become part of everyday urban experience.
A Defining Project in SANAA’s Legacy
The Taichung Green Museumbrary arrives at a significant moment for SANAA, following the firm’s receipt of the 2025 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture. Alongside recent projects such as the Sydney Modern Project in Australia, the Taichung Art Museum further cements SANAA’s reputation for creating architecture that is both conceptually refined and deeply humane.
REFERENCE- https://worldarchitecture.org/
