Japanese studio SANAA has released photos of its Taichung Green Museumbrary cultural complex under construction in Taiwan, as it prepares to open to the public in December.

Once complete, the “museumbrary” will be SANAA‘s largest cultural project to date, comprising eight connected volumes that will contain an art museum and Taichung‘s city library.

Once complete, the Taichung Green Museumbrary will contain an art museum and library. Render courtesy of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Taichung City Government

The new Taichung Art Museum, which will be located in the Taichung Green Museumbrary, recently announced its opening programme and inaugural exhibition on 13 December.

Alongside the gallery spaces will be the Taichung Public Library, designed to create an open and inclusive cultural space where visitors can explore art and literature.

Construction photos reveal the building taking shape ahead of its opening in December

SANAA designed the dual-venue cultural building in collaboration with Taiwanese studio Ricky Liu and Associates, with the aim of immersing visitors in the natural landscape.

Designed around themes of transparency and fluidity, the completed Taichung Green Museumbrary will feature glass and metal walls cloaked in a curtain facade made of white expanded metal mesh.

The building’s blocky volumes will be perched atop columns to give public access from all directions and let light and air flow through the interior.

Situated in Taichung’s Central Park, the building will have an accessible rooftop with views overlooking the surrounding park and city skyline.

It will be enveloped in a metal mesh curtain facade. Photo by Iwan Baan

“We have always hoped to create an open building that many people can easily participate in,” said SANAA founders Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa.

“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,” they continued.

“We have carefully considered how to gently link the two entities together to create a place that connects learning and communication for people.”

The Taichung Green Museumbrary will be SANAA’s largest cultural project

Earlier this year, SANAA was awarded the prestigious Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects, which described the studio as “unassuming yet impactful”.

Dezeen rounded up 10 notable projects by the studio, including the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Sydney Modern art gallery.

The images are by SANAA unless stated.

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