For the Taichung City
Cultural Center (public library and fine arts museum), we have identified a
form, in plan, that is both stable and dynamic: a parallelogram, or inflected
rectangle, that reveals two triangles that are rotationally symmetrical, almost
like two fishes head-to-tail, or the elements of the yinyang symbol.
Both the library and the
museum are organized around central atriums. The library atrium steps outwards,
like a terraced hillside, as it approaches the roof, bringing daylight into the
central reading room. The museum atrium steps upward and inward, more like a
dome, up towards an “oculus” skylight that recalls the Pantheon in Rome. This
triangular central space functions much like the famous rectangular Turbine
Hall of London’s Tate Modern Museum or the central circular atrium of the
Guggenheim Museum in New York, which can be used for dramatic art
installations, performances, and other cultural events. While the ground-level
plaza offers a shady “day plaza” for a subtropical climate, the rooftop garden offers
a “night plaza” for cinema and summer evenings. The building would be
constructed using 1,620 standard marine shipping containers. The powerful
structural efficiency of the shipping container means that large-scale
supplemental structures are not required along the central axis of the
building.