Taichung, Taiwan
In 2013, we designed the Taiwan Cultural Centre Concept which combines a public library and fine arts museum, and serves as a key, central landmark in the City of Taichung. Our design invites a cultural and coherent ecosystem, with each element of the living system supporting the other, inspired by Taiwan’s bamboo forests. This design approach and environment cultivates cultural growth, and provides a healthy environment for visitors and the community. Ecological design principles reduce environmental impact and cultivate future cultural and sustainable awareness. The 37,550 sf. concept includes green technologies such as water management systems, site ecology methods, building cooling and energy generation utilizing wind turbines, and photo-voltaic arrays. The $84.7 million multi-purpose Centre would act as a conduit between the city and park, global and local, communal and individual, eventful and peaceful, and cultural and natural. Despite these seemingly paradoxical qualities, the design supports a meaningful balance in form, maintaining a sophistication and complexity, as well as an essential simplicity. This is what makes a building special, and a city cosmopolitan.