In deep gratitude for Mr. Han Pao-teh’s outstanding contributions to Taiwanese culture and education, Kris Yao | Artech respectfully presents this architectural work to convey Mr. Han’s spirit and legacy.

Mr. Han Pao-Teh is a pioneer of modern architectural thought in Taiwan. To commemorate his contributions, Tainan National University of the Arts (TNNUA) provided a site on campus next to the Audio-Visual Center, while his family donated his personal artifacts, to construct the four-story Han Pao-Teh Memorial Museum. Inheriting Mr. Han's vision for museums and his educational spirit, the memorial museum integrates exhibition space for his artifacts with educational spaces.

The building is designed around the concept of "a cube within a cube." Externally, a pure geometric cube of fair-faced concrete honors Mr. Han’s polymathic, Renaissance man career. Visitors approach via gentle steps above a pool and enter through the side of the cube into the double-height 13.5-meter "Student Exhibition Space." Looking up, a solid mass floating in the atrium houses the "Mr. Han Artifact Exhibition Space." Natural light spills through skylights and slender wall openings, creating a dramatic interplay of light and shadow throughout the space.

Floor-to-ceiling windows framed by lush greenery guide visitors up a stage-like staircase in a counterclockwise path. Moving seamlessly between interior and exterior spaces, visitors can stand on cantilevered outdoor steps to look back at the scenery they just passed, before turning back inside to enter the "Mr. Han Artifact Exhibition Space." Finally, a canyon-like stairway leads visitors to the top floor.

Text | Courtesy of Kris Yao | Artech

Han Pao-teh Memorial Museum

Photos | © Shemoo Studio, Kris Yao | Artech

Note: Mr. Han Pao-teh (1934–2014) was the architectural mentor of architect Kris Yao. In 2015, Mr. Han's family commissioned Kris Yao | Artech to design the "Han Pao-teh Memorial Museum," located on the campus of TNNUA—a university Mr. Han helped establish as the convener of its founding committee in 1989.