The Japanese architect, Shigeru Ban has won an international competition to design and build the new Tainan Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan.

Pritzker Prize-winner Ban has designed several well known museums, the most recent being the Aspen Art Museum, USA.

The Tainan Museum of Fine Arts project aims to promote the development of Taiwan’s emerging cultural significance by recognising its arts and heritage. The new museum will have a particular focus on education, research and understanding.

An internal view of the museum, under the pentagonal canopy exterior

At approximately 26,400sq m (284,167sq ft) in size, Ban’s design is centred under one vast pentagonal roof canopy, allowing free movement around the different components of the site and engagement with the surrounding landscape. An external sculpture park will elongate the proposed gallery spaces, while bringing the theme of ‘the outside in’ to the gallery and museum.

With a construction budget of roughly NT$1,780m (US$59m, €45.6m, £36.4m), the museum will also boast a 350-seat auditorium and several classrooms, continuing the focus of education, literature, arts and heritage across the new site. Several green initiatives will also be put in place in an attempt to ensure sustainability.