As the title suggests, this is Part II. (If you missed Part I, you can find it here — you’re welcome.)

Building on our initial exploration of libraries, museums, and SANAA, we then embarked on a journey of field research and real-world inquiry—not to validate a fixed answer, but to navigate a moving target shaped by space, governance, and time.

A pincer movement is a military tactic in which forces advance from two directions to encircle an opponent. Those who have seen Tenet may recall the concept of the “temporal pincer movement.”

During the early planning phase, our experience felt strikingly similar. We were advancing through overlapping timelines and perspectives, attempting to close in on an unknown future.

One front began with architecture:

Given the spatial conditions already defined, how might different usage scenarios be configured and interpreted?

The other began with operations:

Contemporary public cultural institutions are expected to embody urban identity, cultural governance, and visions of future public life. How should Taichung’s art museum and central library be positioned within this context?

Under an “architecture-first” framework, the challenge was immense. Before the directors and operational teams for the museum and library were even in place, we, alongside SANAA and the Preparatory Office, were expected to extrapolate definitive possibilities from eight already-designed architectural volumes.

At the same time, we were asked to anticipate future digital trends and provide comprehensive analyses for every proposal, covering technical feasibility, expected impact, cost evaluation, and implementation timelines.

Thus, the pincer movement began, not as a metaphor, but as the very condition under which the project unfolded.

It is worth noting that for the concept of “transparent flow” to hold true, SANAA’s design intent extended far beyond the building shell into interiors and special installations. Visitors to the site may recall that from the wayfinding systems (for which Aaron nieh workshop even developed a custom-builttypeface) to signage interfaces and furniture, all visual and functional languages were integrated into a single, coherent logic.

Such a high level of consistency, from concept to detail, inside and out, is rare for large-scale public spaces in Taiwan. This commitment to design meant that our pincer movement was supported by exceptionally strong allies.

From the very start, we defined eight digital-related subthemes: Exploration, Dual-Institution Connection, Equity, Participation, Open Data, Efficiency, Data-Driven Decision-Making, and Creation.

We then invited the team from UniXis Design to help plan and conduct a series of interviews and workshops, aiming to clarify how these themes might be interpreted and positioned within the Green Museumbrary.

Phase 1: Stakeholder Interviews

This phase consisted of 13 sessions involving 27 participants. Notably, we encountered Taiwan’s Level 3 COVID alert early on. Fortunately (and paradoxically), the impact was limited, as most activities shifted seamlessly online.

Through these interviews, we gradually distilled core needs and expectations while identifying potential organizational obstacles and risks in advance. It became clear that while expectations for the project were sky-high, so were the concerns.

Given an architecture-first process, a preparatory office that was not the final operating body, and parallel authorities between the museum and the library, many issues existed in a vacuum, either undiscovered or lacking clear ownership.

This highlighted the unique nature of the Green Museumbrary: it requires deliberate organizational and process design, along with the involvement of diverse professional expertise, to build a shared support system capable of turning aspirational visions into effective operations.

Phase 2: Expert Interviews

This phase was particularly illuminating. We interviewed five distinguished figures:

• Tseng Shu-Hsien, then Director of the National Central Library;
• Lin Man-Lee, Chairperson of the National Culture and Arts Foundation;
• Wang Jun-Jieh, Director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum;
• Lee Yu-Lin, Director of the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts;
• Lin Ping, former Director of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Each brought deep practical experience and shared it generously. From macro-level perspectives on the Green Museumbrary’s positioning and challenges to hands-on insights into digital integration, the discussions were expansive. They extended into topics such as new immigrant communities, institutional governance models, local contexts, and structural issues. We also walked away with a formidable reading list.

These insights helped us clarify how to set bold yet grounded paths forward. As these interviews were conducted under confidentiality agreements, we are unfortunately unable to share further details here. (A small mercy: that’s far fewer words to write.)

Phase 3: Site Research

We conducted on-site research at several institutions, including the Tainan Public Library (New Main Library), Lee Ko-Yung Memorial Library, The Preparatory Office of the National Museum of Modern Art Tainan (MOMA Tainan), Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, and the National Library of Public Information.

Through guided tours and interviews with staff, we heard candid accounts of the gaps between early planning and real-world use, along with the adjustments that followed. These frontline perspectives consistently pointed to one key reminder: The more distinctive the space, the earlier operational thinking must meaningfully intervene.

Each institution continues to thoughtfully adjust its positioning and services in response to public needs. One particularly memorable moment was discovering that the Tainan Public Library even includes a cooking classroom. (Leave it to Tainan.)

Phase 4: User Research

Alongside site research, we conducted rapid on-site interviews with visitors, followed by in-depth interviews with specific user groups. These conversations revealed diverse expectations of public spaces:

• Those who long to wander aimlessly in search of serendipity;
• Parents seeking gentle, inclusive environments where children can roam freely;
• Local residents who view the institution as an extension of their living room, seamlessly stitched into daily life.

Digital services, then, are not merely about advanced equipment. They must respond to different user needs across moments of attraction, dwell time, and return visits, always remembering that the ultimate design audience is the people who will live with these systems over time.

During the research phase, SANAA designer Cheng-Kun once shared a rough iPad sketch of a digital experience concept. Resonating deeply with the idea, I returned to Taipei and developed a more complete version, organizing the digital strategy, mission hierarchy, and formal framework for the Green Museumbrary. (Visualizing concepts, incidentally, is an exceptionally effective communication tool.)

This diagram became the foundation for defining the subsequent digital experience.

Strategy: Fluid Connections

We already had an exceptional spatial container rich with experiential possibilities. But while space is static, digital is fluid. Through digital flow, space, art, knowledge, and users can form dynamic connections, allowing experiences to be delivered in a personalized and adaptive manner.

Mission: From Needs to Integration

Structurally, the mission unfolds in three layers: first, fulfilling the basic functional needs of both institutions; second, connecting their content through a shared language; and finally, creating experiences that can only emerge through their integration.

Form: Interfaces at Three Scales

1. Personal: The device in your pocket, the smartphone.
2. Spatial: Screens located at key points throughout the building.
3. Environmental: The largest-scale medium, capable of embodying the entire institution’s content and rhythms.

Different scales respond to different contexts between the personal and the public.

A small anecdote: the “ring” in the concept diagram was initially a casual sketch (perhaps subconsciously inspired by Summer Wars). Yet it ultimately appeared in the physical world almost unchanged, as fantastical as its form suggests.

One year after completing the planning document, the directors of both institutions officially took office. We then commissioned HIDE AND SEEK AUDIOVISUAL ART to facilitate a series of alignment workshops, grounding the concepts in real-world budgetary, technical, and operational conditions.

Before one workshop, Cheng-Kun unearthed an early conceptual sketch for the Green Museumbrary by Yuko Hasegawa.

As we looked at the image and listened to both directors joyfully discuss possibilities in shared consensus, a realization struck: perhaps the pincer movement had finally reached its point of convergence.

Not because the answers were complete, but because the questions were finally shared. When everyone operates on the same frequency and confronts challenges with honesty, that convergence becomes possible.

Reflecting later with members of SANAA, we wondered whether this architectural time displacement might actually have been a blessing. Such bold, untraceable ideas may well have been abandoned had they been subjected too early to pragmatic constraints. Perhaps it is Taiwan’s particular blend of flexibility and tolerance that allowed such unprecedented possibilities to emerge.

After this extended process of inquiry and collision, we arrived at the design phase. Across three types of media, the digital system needed to realize three layers: basic functionality, consistency, and integrative experience.

Returning to the concept of a cultural forest, every technology ultimately serves exploration and connection.

In an algorithm-driven era, we collectively risk falling into what Cass Sunstein calls “information cocoons,” where algorithms feed our preferences with precision, isolating us within echo chambers and intensifying social polarization.

The Green Museumbrary’s open, stochastic spatial design offers an ideal countermeasure. Through mechanisms of exploratory wandering, we invite visitors to release goal-oriented thinking, to lose themselves freely within the architecture and encounter unexpected discoveries. This vision manifests in several modes:

• A Guide in Your Pocket
• An intuitive, comprehensive navigation tool that requires no prior map study. Visitors simply choose or ask for a route, and their phone becomes a personal guide.
• Seeds of Inspiration in Space
• Gamified elements hidden throughout the building encourage visitors to explore unfamiliar areas, notice overlooked details, and find unexpected inspiration—a place where getting lost is welcomed.
• An AI-Woven Knowledge Ring
• A circular LED installation connecting the entirety of the Green Museumbrary’s information, breaking away from traditional hierarchical classification systems. Using AI embedding technology, vast datasets are reorganized into multidimensional networks of association. As you look up, you may discover connections you never imagined. The exhibition tagline from the library’s opening show, Unveiling the Encyclopedic World, captures this perfectly: “The concept of the library is often built on a misunderstanding: that people go to libraries to find a book whose title they already know. Of course, this often happens. But for my friends and me, the true function of the library is to discover books we have never heard of, but which may be of vital importance to us.” — Umberto Eco

Having witnessed this process, we believe that even on a global scale, the Green Museumbrary can rightly be described as a paradigm. I once heard it said in an interview: “The impulse behind building a new museum is always that we cannot afford to lose.” At the time, I struggled to reconcile this sentiment with publicness. Yet upon seeing crowds of visitors joyfully inhabiting the space in their own ways, that phrase returned to mind.

“Not losing,” though seemingly about spectacle or competition, ultimately creates space for possibility. Those within need not concern themselves with winning or losing—only with harnessing the momentum such ambition generates, and moving toward the horizon we are meant to reach. In that moment, everyone wins.

The full digital experience will be unveiled in the near future. We warmly invite you to open another inner world of the Green Museumbrary—through digital.

Photo: Courtesy of SANAA
Text by: Jay
Key Visual: 一杯中冰美