Taichung Art Museum by SANAA opens to the public

The Taichung Art Museum by SANAA, part of the newly completed Taichung Green Museumbrary, officially opens on December 13th, 2025, in Taiwan. This innovative project merges the city’s central library with a major metropolitan art museum, establishing a unified cultural complex that introduces a new model for institutional collaboration.

Located on the northern border of Central Park—a 67-hectare green space within the 254-hectare Shuinan Trade and Economic Park, which was once a military airport decommissioned in 2004—the Green Museumbrary is at the center of Taichung’s redevelopment initiatives. It has been hailed as Taiwan’s most significant cultural project of 2025. Guided by the concept of “a library in a park and an art museum in a forest,” SANAA’s design elevates the building above ground, inviting daylight and park breezes through shaded plazas that create open, accessible entries from all directions.

The debut exhibition, “A Call of All Beings,” assembles works by over 70 artists and collectives from 20 countries. Spanning the museum’s galleries and shared public spaces, the exhibition features video, painting, sculpture, installations, archival materials, artists’ books, and 24 newly commissioned site-specific pieces. The program also includes performances, workshops, and talks that explore themes of human and multispecies coexistence.

SANAA unveils the Taichung Art Museum as part of the Green Museumbrary | all images by YHLAA – Yi Hsien Lee

An Open Plan Connecting Culture and Nature

The building’s design removes conventional barriers, blending museum and library spaces into an open, welcoming environment. Reading zones and exhibition areas are interwoven to encourage interaction and foster cross-programming. The library is set to offer access to over one million physical and digital resources. On the rooftop, SANAA has created an outdoor garden overlooking Central Park and the Taichung skyline, serving as both a public gathering space and a cultural extension of the building, seamlessly linking architecture with the surrounding landscape.

The dual-layer facade consists of high-performance glass or metal cladding paired with an outer skin of expanded aluminum mesh. This silvery mesh imparts a translucent quality to the exterior while enhancing energy efficiency. The building’s elevated form and airy facade emphasize openness and a strong connection to the adjacent parkland. At ground level, shaded plazas function as inviting public thresholds, where the city, museum, and library converge.

the dual-layer facade combines glass or metal cladding with expanded aluminum mesh

the mesh screen improves environmental performance while shaping the building’s identity

the outdoor garden functions as both a public space and cultural extension

the cultural complex combines a metropolitan art museum with the city’s central library

the building volume is lifted above the ground to allow light and breeze to pass through

reading areas and exhibition zones are arranged to overlap and encourage interaction

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