Museum Making in Taiwan: Exploring the Production of Museum Architecture from the Perspective of Design and Use

This research looks at museum making practice and pays special attention to the ways in which museums are made through processes of design and use. By delving into a case study, the investigation concentrates on the production of museum architecture and its significant histories of making to elucidate the closely intertwined connection among society, architecture, designers, space users, and the social parties involved. It looks for meaningful findings for both the fields of museum making and architecture. The research sets forward a detailed case study in the capital city of Taiwan, Taipei: Treasure Hill Artists Village (THAV), investigating the complex of processes through which the site has been produced since 1940s. THAV is an identified historic village, which was firstly built by retired veterans and migrants, in the high-urbanized Taipei City. Today, there are still some residents living at the site, although it has undergone a drastic alteration from a self-built village to an open art venue which accommodates international art-residential programs. The long history of the changes of the buildings in the village and their eventual transformation into a museumified venue, offers abundant content for analysis. As a detailed case study, the site provides an example of spatial change which can illuminate the shifting approaches and practices of museum making through both design and use. Overall, the research attempts to comprehend more about the nature of the case study and to develop a fuller understanding that architecture is produced by both design and use as well as the making of public art museums/venues in Taiwan. By examining the correlations among the society, the architecture, and involved social parties, such as museum institutions, designers, and various space users, the thesis seeks to orient museum making towards more engaging and meaningful museum environments with more social concerns and critical practices.