February_1966 — Page 63

NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM

TAIWAN

PROFESSOR BOYLE HUANG

architect

PROVINCIAL GOVT. OF TAIWAN

developers

BUREAU OF PUBLIC WORKS

contractors

A MODERN

example of

classical Chinese palace-style architecture is Taiwan's National Palace Museum which was completed last year at Waishuanghsi, a quiet suburb north- east of Taipei.

The museum, housing priceless col- lections of Chinese arts. has a beautiful setting. It stands on sloping terrain with a panoramic view of the Double-Brook valley to the south.

The upper portion of the site, part of a reservoir area, contains big stones and old dragon-eye trees and suggests many interesting possibilities in landscape design, while the lower part is a tree-less rice paddy.

The gently sloping site is between

20 and 60 metres above sea level. It

is bounded on the north by a cliff rising to 150 metres, on the east and west by valley streams and on the south by a highway. The geological The geological composition is sandstone in the vicinity of the site and andesite near the rising cliff, where a storage tunnel has been located. Both types of rock are hard and stable enough to provide solid foundations.

Only about one sixth of the site has been developed, the remainder being left in its natural state or for future recreational purposes.

Motor traffic and pedestrians are completly separated. A one-way road system about one kilometre long enters from the south of the site, run- ning up by a creek to the museum

Side view of the National Palace Museum

proper and down again to the west of the small hill.

Buses stop at the south entrance and pedestrians walk through a triple- arch doorway to enter the enclosed central mall which is bordered by several rows of big trees. Below the museum is a huge retaining wall and a grand stairway leading to the upper

terrace.

Design

Since one half of the US$1,250,000 cost of the project was contributed by U.S. aid, an American educated pro- fessor of architecture was chosen as architect Professor Boyle Huang

of the National Taiwan University.

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Far East Architect & Builder February, 1966

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