The New Taipei City Art Museum is located in the Sanying Reclamation Area at the confluence of the Dahan River and Yingge River in Yingge District. This major public infrastructure project uses culture to promote urban renewal and activation. Bringing together the city’s arts, nature and local industry, it aims to be an important artistic and cultural landmark of northern Taiwan.
As a “museum for all the people,” NTCAM is devoted to making art part of life and to connecting with society as a learning place for all ages. Building a network of art and culture centered on New Taipei City and radiating outward, NTCAM is actively forming global alliances, facilitating art practices and exchanges. Grounded in the local community and building a bridge to the world, the New Taipei City Art Museum focuses on modern and contemporary art and visual culture from the 20th century to today. Its core purposes are art collection, research, exhibition, education and public service.
Architecture
Architect: Kris Yao / Artech
Total campus area: 9.8 hectares
Building height: 3 floors underground, 8 floors above ground
The New Taipei City Art Museum complex, including the main building and the ground-level Creative Cluster, was planned by Kris Yao, founder of the architectural firm Artech. The overall design pursues balance between architecture and the natural environment, integrating both cultural and historical viewpoints, expressing a contemporary dialectical relationship between modernity and humanity. The layout of the Creative Cluster simulates a cracked riverbed, with the main building rising above it. The exterior is formed of vertical tubular structures of varying heights. Differently textured walls achieve the visual effect of a penetrated mass. The design seeks to achieve an intertwining flow between the art museum and the surrounding city environs, creating a public and open yet intimate spatial energy, providing visitors with a multiplicity of experiences in art appreciation.
Brand Identity
The New Taipei City Art Museum has designed a Visual Identity System, to convey “participation and co-creation”—the core values of a “museum for all the people.” Its foundational element is a stack of cubes forming the five English letters “NTCAM” (the abbreviation of the Museum’s name). This symbolizes the process by which everyone takes part and creates together. The brand colors reflect the exterior of the museum building, its surrounding natural environment, and the special features of the local culture, expressing the distinctive cultural diversity of New Taipei City and the ideal of a “museum for all the people.”
New Taipei City Art Museum Planning Office
Established by the New Taipei City Cultural Affairs Department in November 2019, the NTCAM Planning Office is paving the way for the future New Taipei City Art Museum by developing both physical facilities and human services, focused on four different dimensions: the team, venue, collection, and visitors. Its mission includes conducting research on local art history and museum collection, establishing a collection policy and management system, developing the curatorial framework and production procedures, and fostering connections with schools and communities. In so doing, it is amassing the Museum’s professional knowledge and abilities, communicating the Museum’s image and vision, and gradually nurturing the museum future visitors.
The NTCAM Planning Office is also working with the New Taipei City Government to blend organically with the surrounding environment, with the ultimate goal of encouraging citizens to take part in art and culture, and to drive the development of the surrounding districts.