Revamping Taipei’s Fine Art Museum Store

Securing the first place in the Retail category at the Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) awards 2021 is J.C. Architecture’s renovation project on Taipei’s Fine Art Museum’s historical souvenir store. Despite only occupying 0.2% of the museum at the corner of the museum lobby, the design team hopes to make the biggest impact while bringing out the history of the museum. 

“Museum shops are an integral part of the visiting experience and serve to encourage visitors to bring aesthetics into their everyday life”, said a spokesperson from Taipei Fine Art Museum, which commissioned J.C.Architecture on this renovation project. 

To visualise the design of the gift shop, the design team decided to utilise concepts from the Metabolism movement. Architect Kao is one of the prominent figures of the Taiwanese Metabolism movement, who happened to be the designer of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Hence, the new store is a blend of the museum’s chief designer’s techniques with the design team’s original creative designing thoughts.

The shop has two sets of structures, each with five cantilever extensions that are over three metres long. The moveable cantilever framework also allows tourists to observe the conventional gift shop in different perspectives. The white buildings generate a distinctive image for the store by creating a striking visual impression, as well as increasing the display area and flexibility of its use. Overall, this store is a large-scale artistic work in the Taipei Fine Arts Museum lobby.