Photographic material, competition submission for National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan 台灣台北市國立故宮博物院設計比賽參賽作品影像資料

The Chinese architect Wang Dahong designed this competition entry for the National Palace Museum in Taiwan in the early 1960s. Although Wang’s proposal was selected unanimously, the committee asked the architect to alter the scheme in line with classical Chinese aesthetics, reinforcing the mission of the museum. The government ultimately built another design, by Boyle Huang, instead.
Wang’s proposal is a long, two-level rectangle with an overhanging roof made of three inverted tent-like forms. Visitors would enter via a subtly complex walkway rising over a square pool centred in front of the building. The lower level is transparent glass, while the taller and wider floor above is opaque, protecting the artefacts of the museum’s collection while shaping terraces around the building’s perimeter. Inside, the reinforced-concrete roof and supporting columns allowed for an open plan.
This series includes photographs of exterior renderings, floor plans, elevations and sections, and negatives showing a structural model of National Palace Museum.