‘Embrace the Maze’: Elevated Walkways and Suspended Steps Bring Fun and Thrills to Mighty New Taiwan Museum.

Navigating the freshly opened Taichung Art Museum in the heart of Taiwan feels like engaging with a living sculpture. Designed by the renowned Japanese architecture firm Sanaa, the complex comprises eight playfully tilted buildings that artfully blend an art museum with a public library. Encased in shimmering, mesh-like silver walls, the interior boasts soaring ceilings and meandering pathways.

Beyond the airy lobby—a space that exists between inside and out—visitors stroll along walkways and inclines, discovering they are in a library one moment and a world-class art exhibition the next. A portal might open up to a overhead passage suspended above a rooftop garden, granting sweeping panoramas of Taichung’s Central Park, or into a snug teenage reading nook. Floating staircases cling on building exteriors, and floor levels shift purposefully, complementing each space’s unique role and energy rather than following a rigid, overall consistency.

“It is ‘easy to get lost in’,” notes Lan Yu-hua, an associate researcher at the museum, with a laugh. But she insists that’s part of the intended experience: “We say that disorientation is beneficial.”

This city-funded initiative stands as the latest in a succession of high-profile museums and performance venues established across Taiwan over the past two decades.

A Meeting of Architectural Minds

Led by 2010 Pritzker Prize laureates Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa—known for 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 final result has blurred the distinctions between the two institutions. The design prompts one to slow down, imagining a day spent reading or working in the library, punctuated by leisurely walks through halls of art.

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

Opening Displays Spanning Cultures

The museum’s inaugural presentation feature specially created pieces by renowned South Korean artist Haegue Yang and Taiwanese artist Michael Lin. Yang’s large-scale installation offers an abstract meditation on the banyan trees and fireflies found throughout Taiwan and Korea. Hanging from the 27-meter-high central atrium, it blends her signature venetian blinds with lights and steel frames. At night, the radiant glow from her work is visible through the exterior mesh from far across the city.

The larger opening exhibition, titled A Call of All Beings, is an diverse yet unified mix of new installations and recent acquisitions 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 notable coup, the curators also secured original early sketches from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince and archival photographs of Helen Keller.

The exhibition prioritizes Taiwanese artists, particularly those from Taichung. There is also a conscious emphasis on including artists with disabilities—a poignant initiative.

Raising the Global Art Scene’s Awareness

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 quick high-speed rail journey from Taipei and already hosts a respected Museum of Fine Arts and a expanding sector of private galleries. However, it has historically struggled to attract international art tourists.

“It’s quite dynamic and vibrant now. We hope that in a few years Taichung can be an artistic landmark Asian city,” expresses Director Lai.

Claudia Chen, chair of a major Taiwanese art association, describes the new museum as a potential “gamechanger” for the country, “moving the center of gravity 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, highlights 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 major boost to Taiwan’s visibility on the global stage.”

The museum welcomes the general public in mid-December, preparing for a overwhelmingly domestic audience, at least initially, alongside visiting international press and museum professionals.