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The New Taipei City Art Museum sits on reclaimed land where two rivers meet. The gently sloping site resembles an island amid streams, with views of mountains and waterways. The winning competition entry was based on the concept of an “art museum among the reeds,” aiming to create an open and accessible display of art that was integrated into the landscape, housed in a building that also achieves a high level of sustainability.
A long-span structural system elevates the main museum above the site, providing flexible exhibition space and panoramic views. Its facade features vertical aluminum tubes of varying lengths that reference the preexisting reedbeds, blurring the building’s outline. The result is a museum that both stands out and deepens appreciation for its natural setting.
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The 4.4-hectare site lies within a riverside art park between Yingge and Sanxia, two towns rich in history. The design highlights the local character by responding to the land’s cultural heritage and natural landscape, creating a museum that is open, inclusive, and welcoming. Easily accessible by metro and train, the museum strengthens Yingge’s identity as an arts-centered town. The open ground level serves as a pedestrian-friendly space for residents during the week, providing a relaxed setting for daily walks and community activities. On weekends, it becomes a lively destination for visitors, offering free access to exhibitions and leisure areas—blending art, community, and everyday life seamlessly.
The project emphasizes sustainability by following the natural slope to minimize excavation. Early-stage microclimate simulations using local weather data optimized wind, sunlight, and solar radiation for outdoor comfort. Glazing specifications were set to ensure visitors' thermal comfort while balancing natural daylight and artificial lighting, with artwork protection as a key consideration. CFD analysis confirmed the orientation and elevation to enhance ventilation by leveraging prevailing seasonal winds. Sandblasted aluminum pipes on the façade, inspired by reeds, also function as shading devices, reducing solar radiation by 30%. Glazing SC values were tailored to space function and orientation. The project earned Taiwan's Gold-level Green Building Certificate.
The museum incorporates the concept such as dry riverbed, old brick pavement, and swaying reeds into the architectural language to create a "museum of modern and contemporary art among the reeds."
The design blends the natural and the fabricated, interpreting one through the other. Its distinctive façade features sandblasted aluminum tubes of varying sizes, paired with staggered three-color aluminum panels. This layered skin reflects the ever-changing environment, attracting people with its dynamic appearance and shifting light.
The design embraces the idea that art can be close to people. The building consists of two distinct yet interrelated programs: stacked museum galleries in a rectilinear upper volume, and a low-rise “art village” at ground level, with publicly accessible studios, shops, and restaurants. This configuration creates a dynamic dialogue between institutional and public realms, inviting diverse ways to engage with art.
Inside the eight-story volume, two double-height gallery levels are organized between a public circulation spine and back-of-house functions. Vierendeel trusses and extensive diagonal bracing enable 20-meter-wide, column-free exhibition spaces. The lower galleries are tiered and can operate as a continuous sequence or as individual rooms. Exposed beams and ductwork give the interior a raw character, while skylights above introduce rhythm, scale and diffuse natural light to the space.
“The new museum is not merely a venue for displaying artworks. It aspires to be an institution that listens and responds to its audience. To amply its impact, it fosters meaningful dialogue among divers communities and encourages collaboration between audiences and artists—transforming the museum into a space where creativity and culture converge through shared artistic experiences.”
KRIS YAO | ARTECH is an Asia-based architectural firm with offices in Taipei and Shanghai. Kris Yao (Hon. FAIA) is the founding architect. The firm is hailed as one of the best professional practices in Asia as well as an internationally renowned firm. The firm’s portfolio demonstrates years of practice in various architecture types, including offices, commercial, hospitality, cultural, educational, transportation, performing arts centers, residential, spiritual spaces, etc. The team’s design philosophy strives to achieve excellence in design, finding ways to employ innovative yet appropriate technologies to create poetic architectural spaces that integrate the cultural context, and the sense of scale and place.
