Southern Branch of Taiwan Palace Museum | KRIS YAO

Designed by KRIS YAO | ARTECH, Composed of three distinct fluid forms, each represents inspiration from the three Chinese calligraphy strokes: the thick ink, the half-dry and the smearing, Taiwan Palace Museum Southern Branch will present itself as an ink-dark, sensuous sculptural form sitting within the surrounding green rice and sugar cane fields.The three forms also contain different functions: due to sensitivity of natural light level for the artifacts, the solid form houses the curatorial department and exhibition halls; the glass-and-steel “void” volume facilitates museum lobby, café, library and administration offices; the third smearing stroke flows through intersecting solid and void forms, linking various spaces with smooth circulation pattern.Visitors arrive at the gate of the museum site will have a glance at the main building across the lake. After crossing a curved pedestrian bridge, which is an integral part of the architecture design, one would pass under the glass volume and arrive at a tranquil bamboo courtyard before entering the museum building.

photography by © Shawn Liu Studio

In the grand lobby, large glass curtain wall frames the views of the lake and landscape. A grand stairway gently rises up and leads visitors to the orientation room where the glass volume hits the solid volume as the exhibitions unfold.The exterior of the solid form is composed of more than 36,000 pieces of cast aluminum “disks” attached to the curved surfaces, depicting an ancient bronze dragon and cloud patterns using modern digitized design. As the sun moves, the reflection from the disks will reveal a “moving” dragon in the clouds on this uniquely designed façade.

photography by © KyleYu

Project Info:
Architects: KRIS YAO | ARTECH
Location: No. 888, Gugong Boulevard, Taibao City, Chiayi County, Taiwan
Lead Architects: Kris Yao
Project Principle: Kuo-Chien Shen
Project Manager: Winnie Wang
Project Supervisor: Glen Lu, Jun-Ren Chou, Tien-Yu Lo
Design Team: Chien-Yi Wu, Lien-Tang Chen, Jake Sun, Frank Lu, Ting-Tseng Shen, Wen-Li Liu, Ting-Fung Ho, Wen-Ling Liao, Miya Yu
Inspection Team: Calvin Chen, Yi-Seng Tsai, Jui-Hung Lin, Stanley Liu, Bruce Wu, Jason Lin, Yun-Yi Wang, Hui-Ting Yu, Sam Chuang, Chu-Chun Chang, Hui-Ling Lee、Dawson Hung, Sam Chang, Yi-Ti Tsai, Yu-Ching Chen
Area: 38332.69 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: Shawn Liu Studio, KyleYu, Jeffrey Cheng, Commonwealth Publishing Group
Project Name: Southern Branch of Taiwan Palace Museum