The Taichung City Cultural Center is a new cultural landmark situated at the entrance to Taichung Gateway Park in the Taichung Gateway District. The building is an iconic presence while at the same time it is fully integrated into the landscape of the Gateway Park. The facility will include a world-class Museum of Fine Arts and a Public Library. Located on the northern end of the Park, the project will provide citizens with a multipurpose cultural, artistic and recreational facility.

The Taichung Cultural Center is first and foremost a symbol of progress, not only for the city but also for Taiwan. The project will command an international presence attracting venues and promoting new forms of the Arts In addition to being a great resource for local residents, the landmark destination will attract visitors from afar. The technologically advanced, environmentally conscious scheme projects a sophisticated, lively, progressive, forward-thinking vision, catapulting Taichung into the 21st century.

The landscape rises to meet the building located at the end of the major axis. Large windows at the scale of the galleries offer a glimpse into the facility. A grand exhibition hall spans the length of the building along the north-south axis. The exhibition hall is a large, versatile space. The facility is designed for optimum flexibility, and is capable of housing a variety of venues. From inside the grand hall there are framed views to the exterior. A panoramic view of the park is seen to the south and there are views of the city to the north.

The library is a 21st century state-of-the-art learning center. The semi-subterranean building has a strong connection to the landscape. The building is open and transparent at the street (Park Avenue) and is burrowed into the landscape at the south. The library is an open plan for optimum flexibility, future growth and to accommodate various new multimedia technologies. Several “buildings within the building” are articulated as special programmatic elements including the children’s reading room, the technology room and the exhibition hall.

Both the library and the museum explore the relationship between the exterior of the building to the surfaces of the interior volumes in terms of specific programmatic elements while bringing the exterior in and through the building. The pattern derived from the landscape is utilized on the building surfaces becoming the means by which the interior surfaces are penetrated.

The library is built into the landscape that unites the individual building components while the museum hovers above. Parking is located below grade with vehicular access at ground level. The main entrance to both the Museum and the Library is at the Plaza level located one level up from grade and extending out into the park. The large exterior mall functions as a public gathering space. The honorific grand stair and exterior mall’s landscape provide a civic presence for the building within the park.

The project is a synthesis of a technologically advanced scheme and full integration with the landscape. as evidenced in part by the landscape pattern on the building surfaces and parts of the projects that are nestled into the landscape.