A Museum as Entertainment Landscape

 

The Taoyuan Museum of Arts Competition

 


Courtesy: TMOA ©Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop

 

The competition for the Taoyuan Museum of Arts is similar to now what has become the typical invited format for major projects in Taiwan. In this case, 14 architectural teams submitted their qualifications, and four qualified for the second competition stage. They were Q-LAB + menacoo architecten, Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop, Ricky Liu & Associates, and JJPan and Partners, Architects and Planners + MVRDV.

After the final evaluation was took place on the 28th of February 2018, Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop were named the winners with a proposal developing the Museum of Arts as a entertainment landscape hill in the heart of Taoyuan City. Different from most high profile art museums that have appeared on the international scene over the past decades, this one depends almost entirely on a landscape motif as attraction, not a building as symbolic structure. It could be described as a terraced pocket park, with a number of follies on view.

 

  

 

This museum has three layers of space; the Cube, the Hill and the Inbetween. The Cube is an enclosed exhibition space, and the Hill is a landscape that contains attractions . The Cube and the Hill are connected by the Inbetween, inside of which one can find art installations, performing art and workshops. in addition the terraces include an outside theater. All this is connected by an “inclined lift,” which will connect the various venues. The pop-up boxes serve as multipurpose spaces for commercial and additional exhibition spaces, where artists can sell their works.

Although we haven’t seen the works of the other competitors at this writing, we can assume that the winning design was somewhat of an outlier in the minds of many. But sometimes it takes a totally different approach to win a competition. The final ranking of the participating teams was:

 

• First place – Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop (Japan)
Second place – Ricky Liu & Associates
Third place – JJPan and Partners, Architects and Planners + MVRDV (The Netherlands)
Fourth place – Q-LAB + menacoo architecten (The Netherlands)

 

 


Images: courtesy TMOA ©Joe Shih. Architects + Riken Yamamoto and Field Shop