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Exploded Hill to House Taipei Art Museum

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The most exciting submission for the International Competition for the New Taipei City Museum of Art is a proposal to house a museum for art inside a sort of exploded hill – “ARTSCAPE.”

HWKN‘s signature concept is that ECONIC  (Ecological + Iconic) architectural forms make an architectural argument for a sustainable world by using a memorable, iconic form.

The firm (formed by Architizer co-founder and TED speaker-invitee Hollwich along with Dutch architect and Harvard-grad Kushner) is an innovative New York-based group of architects, designers, and inventors that looks at not just architecture, but also at urbanism and branding.

HWKN looks at the earliest inspiration we must have had for building – the hill. By slicing an artificial “hill” into a series of chasms, they create the interior space.

The New Taipei City Government is the client for the proposed art museum, and the design is supposed to facilitate the idea of making art accessible to all.

ARTSCAPE does indeed encourage further exploration. Its novelty entices and draws users deep into the museum.

Part of the museum is sunk below ground level, making energy-efficient use of earth for temperature moderation. HWKN creates an iconic structure with a curious sliced hill shape. But unlike a real hill, the cross sectional slices bring light deep into the building.

Starting from a cross section that is almost square, the hill is popped up from a square base.

The upper floors of the giant artificial landscape form the childrens’ wing of the museum.

Within the hill shape, the ground floor layout is a simple square traditional building shape.

On the upper floor, the square layout changes to reflect the shape of the hill.

Thus the design is a successful realization. The exploded hill idea is the perfect materialization of an ECONIC hybrid of an urban environment, a landscape, and a building.