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SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition

News: Japanese architecture studio SANAA has won a competition to design the Taichung Cultural Centre in Taiwan.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition

SANAA's proposal for a stack of warped cuboids beat proposals by international firms including Eisenman Architects of New York and Mass Studies of Seoul.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition

Translucent mesh will be draped from the edges of the roofs to create curving curtains around the buildings. The cuboids will sit at angles to one another and overlap at the corners to link exhibition spaces, libraries and reading areas within the new Taichung Cultural Centre.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition

Visitors will enter through a large plaza beneath the volumes in the centre of the complex. Inside there will be three main storeys interspersed with mezzanines.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition
Ground level plan - click for larger image

A spiralling ramp will connect private study areas piled on top of each other around the sides in one of the largest spaces. The offset volumes will create large covered outdoor spaces and roof terraces, providing seating areas for cafes.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition
First level plan - click for larger image

SANAA recently presented designs for a new campus for Israel's leading design school and is shortlisted to design a new headquarters and visitor centre for the Nobel Prize in Stockholm.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition
Second level plan - click for larger image

Beijing architects MAD have designed a convention centre for Taichung, while Stan Allen constructed a pavilion of bamboo scaffolding at a former airport in the central Taiwanese city.

SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition
Long section - click for larger image

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SANAA wins Taichung Cultural Centre competition
Cross section - click for larger image