Taichung Green Museumbrary, which is situated in Taichung, the country's second-largest city, is considered as Taiwan's most significant cultural development of 2025. 

Designed by Japanese architecture firm SANAA, the museum was officially opened on Saturday, December 13, 2025, that was attended by dignitaries, museum directors, curators, and artists who traveled from all over the city. 

It is Taiwan's first location to combine the city's major library with a metropolitan art museum, the new international cultural destination offers a fresh approach to art institutions.

Exterior of Taichung Green Museumbrary, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

The new Taichung Art Museum and Taichung Public Library are housed at Taichung Green Museumbrary, which is situated within Taichung's 67-hectare Central Park. 

The renowned Japanese architectural firm SANAA, led by 2010 Pritzker Prize winners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, and Taiwan's Ricky Liu & Associates Architects + Planners collaborated together to develop the magnificent dual-venue complex. 

The structure is SANAA's first public building in Taiwan and its largest cultural project to date, with a total floor space of 57,996 square meters. 

The design, which consists of eight connected volumes of various sizes covered in glass and metal and surrounded by a spotless white expanded metal mesh curtain façade, embodies SANAA's characteristic concepts of transparency and fluidity.

Exterior of Taichung Green Museumbrary, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

Taichung Green Museumbrary is situated on the northern border of the 67-hectare Central Park within the 254-hectare Shuinan Trade and Economic Park, which was the location of a former military airport that was shut down in 2004. 

Taichung is the second largest city in Taiwan, with a population of 2.8 million. The Taichung Green Museumbrary's philosophy of being "a library in a park and an art museum in a forest" is embodied in SANAA's design.

The building blurs the lines between museums and libraries, fostering an inclusive, open space where reading and exhibiting coexist. More than a million physical books and digital materials are stored at the Taichung Public Library.

Main entrance of Taichung Green Museumbrary, connecting Taichung Art Museum and Taichung Public Library. Designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

Transparency and openness 

The outside has a two-layer façade with an outer layer of aluminum expanded metal mesh and an interior layer of high-performance low-emissivity glass or metal cladding. The building appears lighter and more transparent thanks to its silvery-white curtain. 

In order to improve the building's connection to its surroundings, the building's volume has been raised to let in natural light and the park's breeze. 

The building is accessible from all directions, including the neighborhood and Central Park, thanks to the ground-level shaded plazas, which create a welcoming and open public area. 

Culture Forest on the rooftop of Taichung Green Museumbrary, connecting Taichung Art Museum and Taichung Public Library, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

"We have always hoped to create an open building that many people can easily participate in. Whether it is the museum providing visual learning through art or the library offering education through literature, combining the two to create a new multifaceted learning space is what we believe to be one of the main characteristics of this building," said Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, Partners of SANAA.

"We have carefully considered how to gently link the two entities together to create a place that connects learning and communication for people," Sejima and Nishizawa added.

Atrium of Taichung Art Museum, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

An international team from Taiwan, Romania/South Korea, and the United States curated the first show at Taichung Art Museum (TcAM), "A Call of All Beings: See you tomorrow, same time, same place," which runs from December 13, 2025, to April 12, 2026. 

More than 70 artists from more than 20 countries participate in the show, fusing regional viewpoints with international understanding. 

Taichung Art Museum, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

Additionally, the museum will present Haegue Yang and Michael Lin's inaugural TcAM Art Commissions in Public Space, positioning itself as a cultural force in contemporary art dedicated to global discourse.

"The integration of Taichung Art Museum with Taichung Public Library and the park has activated our thinking about the environment, culture, people and the city," said Yi-Hsin Lai, Director of Taichung Art Museum.

Digital HUB at Taichung Public Library, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

"With the inaugural exhibition and the special commissions, we not only combine artistic dialogues across generations and cultures, but also strive to fulfil the potential of an art museum to enter the everyday life of the city and its residents, as well as to inspire creativity and imagination."

"We look forward to making this a welcoming space for visitors to create unique memories and experiences of their own," Hsin Lai added.

Reading Area of Taichung Public, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

Reading Area of Taichung Public, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

Exterior view of Taichung Green Museumbrary, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. Image © Iwan Baan

SANAA was recently awarded the 2025 RIBA Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, announced by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). The firm also completed the Sydney Modern Project in Sydney, Australia. 

Project facts

Project name: Taichung Art Museum

Architect: SANAA 

Location: Taichung, Taiwan

Top image in the article: Exterior of Taichung Green Museumbrary, designed by SANAA Architects. Image courtesy of Taichung Art Museum. © Iwan Baan. 

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