The Architecture Trip--The Big Sandwich--Asia University Museum of Modern Art

Preface: I'm sorry that I change my topic for some reason. From this week, I will write about another topic that interest me--architecture. It can be traced back to my high school period, I was appealed to architecture and had a hard time to try to get into the architecture department of Cheng Kung university, however, I failed twice and gave up persuading the goal. Never mind, I would like to talk about some famous architecture that I have visited. I enjoy the feeling of traveling and taking a look of the architectures, hope you enjoy it, too.

The museum is also called Ando Tadao museum(by me)

  Asia University Museum of Modern Art(亞洲現代美術館) is located in Asia University in Taichung City. The important feature of it is that it was designed by a Japanese architect, Tadao Ando(安藤忠雄), who got the Pritzker Architecture Prize(普立茲克建築獎), the Nobel prize of architecture.

  When I made my first glance on the museum, I associate it to a big sandwich, since it was made up of three slices of triangle. This is a very strange design because a museum is used to display exhibits, so it is usually built at the shape of square. Triangle may cause two problems, the pass way for visitors may be difficult to arrange, and the number of the exhibits may decrease because of triangle is not suitable to fit things.

Triangle shape design

Just like a sandwich 

  As I set my first step in the museum, I found that the whole museum is made up of triangle. Moreover, the pillars are triangle-shaped, too! It is said that the triangle-shaped pillars is designed to endure earthquakes.

Triangle-shaped pillars

Triangle staircase

Triangle skylight

  How about the two question I mention above? First, the pass way for visitors may be difficult to arrange. To emphasize, one of the main textures of the Ando's works is that he like to arrange the space as a maze. The advantage of making a space a maze is that he can add theatricality into the spaces easily as it is very complex, for example:

First, enter the hall, it is a wide space 

Then, take the narrow stairs

Then, a wide room

Complex place like in a maze

  An order of wide, narrow, wide, can be represent as happy, sad, happy, this is full of dramatic. Ando is expert at handling the strange shape.

Ando is a master of controlling space, like a magician

  Another problem is that the number of the exhibits that can be display may decrease. This problem can't be solve, but this create a new feeling. When watching the exhibits in the room, it is like that I am in a pinball game, and I am the ball.

Exhibits placement is not in order

Another room

Just like in the pinball game

  At last, I list three must-see in the Ando museum.

the presentation of light

In this corner, you can see two sides of the museum

Every one love the Exposed Concrete(清水模)