Taichung City Cultural Center Entry by Patrick Tighe Architecture

Here's another entry to the recent Taichung City Cultural Center competition in Taiwan (previously on Bustler). This submission was designed by Southern Californian firm Patrick Tighe Architecture, currently featured at MOCA's exhibition A New Sculpturalism, Contemporary Architecture from Southern California.

Project Description from the Architects:

The Taichung City Cultural Center stands as the gateway into Taichung Gateway Park in the Taichung Gateway District. The facility will include a world - class Museum of Fine Arts and a Public Library. Located on the northern end of the Park, The project will provide citizens with a multipurpose cultural, artistic and recreational facility.

The Taichung Cultural Center is first and foremost a symbol of progress. The building will command an International presence attracting venues and promoting new forms of the Arts. The building will have an iconic presence. The technologically advanced, environmentally mindful scheme projects a sophisticated, lively, progressive, forward thinking vision, catapulting Taichung into the 21st century

The Museum of Fine Arts is the Crowning Jewel of the Park. Located at the end of the major axis, the landscape rises to meet the iconic building. Large windows at the scale of the galleries give the building an identity and offer a glimpse into the facility. A Grand exhibition Hall runs the length of the building along the North / South axis.

The exhibition hall offers a large versatile space that can house a variety of venues. The facility is designed to allow for optimum flexibility. From inside the grand hall, framed views to the exterior are provided. A panoramic view of the park is to the south and to the city to the North.

The library is a 21st century state of the art learning center. The semi subterranean building has a strong connection to the landscape. The building is open and transparent at the street (Park Avenue) and is burrowed into the landscape at the South.

The library is an open plan allowing for optimum flexibility, for future growth and to allow for various new multimedia technologies. Several “buildings within the building” are articulated as special programmatic elements that include the children’s reading room, the technology room and the exhibition hall.

Both the library and the Museum explore the relationship of the exterior surface of the building to the surfaces of the interior volumes. The interior volumes relate to specific programmatic elements of the building whilst bringing the outside into the building. The pattern derived from the landscape is used on the building surfaces and becomes the means by which the interior surfaces are penetrated.

Landscape ties the distinct building components together. The library is built into the landscape while the museum hovers above. Parking is located below the grade with vehicular access at ground level. The main entrance to both the Museum and the Library is at the Plaza level.

The plaza level is located one level up from grade and extends out to into the park. The large exterior mall serves as an exterior public gathering space. The honorific grand stair and landscape of the exterior mall provides a civic presence for the building within the park.

Find also drawings and diagrams of the concept in the image gallery below.