Luminous Moon-Gate was designed in 2013 for the Taichung City Cultural Center International Competition. The design intent behind the proposed project hints at multiple interpretative roles for Taichung: a portal into heightened consciousness, a lantern of knowledge, a catalyst for metropolitan living, a cultural lung for the body of the city, a gate toward a responsible future, a center regenerative of community life, a landmark for orientation.

The project replaces various discontinued military installations and the former Shuinan Airport. Located on the northern end of the new Taichung Gateway Park, the library and the museum act as both a singular cultural landmark and entrance to the greater urban park. Each building's axis points to pivotal parts of the park and the city. The library, the vertical oval, and the museum, the horizontal oval, work in tandem to express a gateway, yet are distinct volumes with shared design language. The buildings feature largely glass surfaces that draw passersby throughout the day and serve as a beacon of activity at night, following the idea that transparency of knowledge leads to collective achievements.

In traditional Chinese iconography, a moon-gate symbolizes a gateway “to the Garden of Paradise.” The paradise of our Information Age aspires to be a future where knowledge and culture shape humankind. The combination of a library and museum is uniquely suited to provide the basis for this future, and the moon-gate-like 10-story form of the library is a potent metaphor for this direction.