The 7th Asia Design Award (ADA) was held in The Splendor Hotel Taichung on December 7, 2017. Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung was invited to have a brilliant conversation with Kazuyo Sejima, the winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize and the architect of the Taichung Green Museumbrary. Mayor Lin appreciated her patience and kindness to discuss and share the ideas with him. The Taichung Green Museumbrary is like a beautiful painting. He hoped it can provide an environment where citizens can “absorb knowledge while enjoying the esthetical environment and admire arts while improving their intellectuality”. Kazuyo Sejima said the Taichung Green Museumbrary was inspired by the ideas of the Mayor. She loves this case and will spare no efforts to finish it in the hope that people in Taiwan and around the world will be attracted and come to Taichung for the building.

The 7th Asia Design Award (ADA) is the first time the ceremony moving from Taipei to Taichung. In addition to awarding the annual Gold Prize, Kazuyo Sejima, an internationally famous architect, was invited to have a conversation with Mayor Lin Chia-lung. The exchange of the design ideas for the Taichung Green Museumbrary and the topic of urban aesthetics attracted many experts and scholars in the architecture and design fields. They interacted in an active and enthusiastic atmosphere.

As Mayor Lin said, the citizens in Taichung are very lucky because we have an area, once was an airport, of 254 hectares in the downtown. In the general planning of the city, we hope that this is still a great and respectable city when we look back 30 years later. The Taichung Gateway is oriented as an area for “living, production, and ecology”. This is the living philosophy of Taichung people and we hope that all buildings can be integrated into the life. They should be a part of a holistic landscape rather than a standalone structure that competes with its beauty. They should also meet the requirements of innovative low carbon design and have all the functions needed for a smart city.

As Mayor Lin pointed out, there will be a central park of around 67 hectares in the Taichung Gateway. The building design is expected to be a two-in-one library and art gallery with the central park as the background, and the Taichung Green Museumbrary that Kazuyo Sejima designs is the one we are waiting for. Mayor Lin gave his suggestion of the name “Green Museumbrary”. He appreciated for her showing her patience during the process, and kindness to discuss the ideas and adopt the government’s suggestion.

Mayor Lin said one of the reasons he likes her design is because of her personality. She is very humble and can give plentiful of contents with simple expressions. The Taichung Green Museumbrary is an art. It is a beautiful painting in the park with a background of green grass and blue sky and an embellishment of white buildings. The light penetrating from the morning to the night will give a diverse, and rich atmosphere in the park.

The Taichung Green Museumbrary in combination with the library and art gallery will produce a synergistic effect. Not merely for a collection of paintings, the open space of the gallery will be most suitable for artists to exhibit their works. The library is designed to ensure that every citizen can find a space to provide them with an environment where they can “absorb knowledge while enjoying the esthetical environment and admire arts while improving their intellectuality”. It would be a knowledgeable and emotional journey.

Mayor Lin further said the design of Kazuyo Sejima not only grants the Taichung Green Museumbrary a personality, but also integrates the most important “humane” concept of the Taichung Gateway. In Taichung, there are already three Pritzker Architecture Prize winners, including The Luce Chapel of the Tunghai University, Asia University Museum of Modern Art designed by Tadao Ando, The National Taichung Theater designed by Ito Toyo. These, together with Kazuyo Sejima’s Taichung Green Museumbrary and the Intelligent Operation Center, gradually form the urban characters of the Taichung City, reflecting in the process from the Taichung Park Pavilion of feminine nature to the rigid buildings nowadays. It is hoped that Taichung City will become one of the World Design Capital in 2022.

Kazuyo Sejima said she was very happy to talk with Mayor Lin. She has made great efforts for the design because she loves this case, and will spare no efforts to finish it. The Taichung Green Museumbrary was envisaged with the ideas of Mayor Lin. They have spent much time to discuss the ideas. Combining a two-in-one library and gallery, the Taichung Green Museumbrary will be an unprecedented architecture in the world, which makes it a big challenge. The entire building lot is located between the park and the city. She hoped that people in Taiwan and around the world will be attracted and come to Taichung for the building and the art atmosphere.

Sunshine is one of the features in Taichung and citizens participate in outdoor activities very often. Hence, it is expected to provide an open space for every citizen. The open space is designed on the first floor for all the citizens, and they may unconsciously come to the gallery or library through this open space. It is the intention to create many of such unwitting articulated spaces for the Taichung Green Museumbrary, where the private can be secured in the public space opening to everyone. She showed her appreciation to Mayor Lin for these interesting and challenging design requirements.

As Kazuyo Sejima said, The Taichung Green Museumbrary will be covered with a layer of expanded metal mesh on its outer wall. It will change with different colors under natural light, and people wearing dresses of different colors around the building will bring it with beautiful ornaments. A building is not complete on the completion date. Rather, the entire building is presented only after it is used by the citizens.

As the Cultural Affairs Bureau pointed out, The Taichung Green Museumbrary is located in the Taichung Gateway. It is designed by SANAA, an architectural firm led by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, in cooperation with the Ricky Liu & Associates in Taiwan. The building is a co-construction of a library and a gallery. The building lot has an area of 2.6 hectares for construction of a structure with 7 stories aboveground and 2 stories underground. The 8 spaces inside the building connect to each other to meet the needs of different age and different groups. The construction is expected to be completed in 2020 and the building will be launched officially in 2022. By combining the nature and humanity to build “a library in the park and a gallery in the forest”, the Taichung Green Museumbrary will be a new paragon in the international architectural aesthetics.

The Japanese architect Kazuyo Sejima is one of the designers for the Taichung Green Museumbrary. Her masterpieces include the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan. She won the first prize in the architecture competition for the Taichung Green Museumbrary in 2013. The judges gave her high praise with the comments “Her works present a romance throughout the buildings. They will bring brand-new urban spatial experience for the citizens in Taichung. And the thorough implementation of the Green Building idea will give the citizens a totally different reading and admiring space.”