‘Embrace the Maze’: Elevated Walkways and Suspended Steps Bring Fun and Thrills to Grand New Taiwanese Cultural Hub.

Navigating the recently inaugurated Taichung Art Museum in the heart of Taiwan feels like engaging with a living sculpture. Designed by the prestigious Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, the complex unites eight playfully tilted buildings that seamlessly merge an art museum with a public library. Encased in shimmering, mesh-like silver walls, the interior boasts vast vertical spaces and winding routes.

Beyond the open lobby—a space that blurs boundaries—visitors drift along walkways and inclines, suddenly transitioning in a library one moment and a world-class art exhibition the next. A entry might guide one onto a overhead passage suspended above a rooftop garden, revealing sweeping panoramas of Taichung’s Central Park, or into a snug teenage reading nook. Steps seem to hang on building exteriors, and floor levels are deliberately disparate, serving each space’s unique function and atmosphere rather than imposing a rigid, standardized design.

“It is ‘simple to lose your way within’,” remarks Lan Yu-hua, an associate researcher at the museum, chuckling. But she insists that’s a feature to celebrate: “We say that getting lost is good.”

This civic undertaking stands as the newest in a series of prominent museums and performance venues unveiled across Taiwan over the past two decades.

A Visionary Collaboration

Led by 2010 Pritzker Prize laureates Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa—creators of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York and the Sydney Modern gallery—Sanaa partnered with the Taiwanese firm Ricky Liu & Associates Architects+Planners on the lengthy development. The Taichung city government’s simple directive was for an art museum and a library on a single site.

The completed project has blurred the distinctions between the two institutions. The design seems intended to slow down, easily picturing a day spent reading or working in the library, broken up with leisurely walks through halls of art.

“We are truly delighted that we are with the library all together, because I think that can really open up another layer of audiences for us,” states Yi-Hsin Lai, the museum’s director.

Opening Displays Spanning Cultures

The museum’s launch exhibitions feature commissioned works by acclaimed South Korean artist Haegue Yang and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin. Yang’s immersive work offers an abstract interpretation on the banyan trees and fireflies found throughout Taiwan and Korea. Suspended within the 27-meter-high central atrium, it incorporates her signature venetian blinds with lights and steel frames. At night, the glowing light from her work illuminates the exterior mesh from far across the city.

The larger opening exhibition, titled A Call of All Beings, is an eclectic but coherent mix of specially made and freshly collected art by artists from 20 countries. Organized by an international team, it hangs together master painters from mid-20th century Taiwan alongside postmodern video works. In a significant achievement, the curators also obtained original early sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and archival photographs of Helen Keller.

The exhibition places a strong emphasis on Taiwanese artists, with a focus on those from Taichung. There is also a conscious emphasis on including artists with disabilities—a relevant initiative.

Boosting the Island’s Artistic Stature

For Taiwan’s art sector, this new museum represents a major chance to increase international recognition in the global art scene and further “decentralize” cultural focus from the capital, Taipei. Taichung, the island’s biggest metropolitan area outside Taipei, is a short, easy trip from Taipei and already hosts a respected Museum of Fine Arts and a burgeoning sector of private galleries. However, it has had difficulty to attract international art tourists.

“It’s quite energetic and lively now. We hope that in a few years Taichung can be an major hub for the arts in Asia,” expresses Director Lai.

Claudia Chen, chair of a major Taiwanese art association, describes the new museum as a potential “gamechanger” for the country, “shifting the focus from the north to south.”

“While Taichung and southern Taiwan have had many arts and cultural events in the past, none have reached the scale and importance of Taipei,” Chen notes.

Another arts foundation executive, Jenny Yeh, points out that Sanaa’s involvement has drawn international attention and amplified Taiwan’s existing artistic momentum. “This will prompt more international visitors to explore beyond Taipei and experience a broader view of Taiwan’s cultural landscape. Overall, it will be a tremendous help to Taiwan’s visibility on the global stage.”

The museum officially opens its doors in mid-December, expecting a primarily local audience, at least initially, alongside visiting international press and museum professionals.