09/08/2025
Excited to share that the Pingtung King Boat Museum is featured on the cover of the August 2025 issue of TA Taiwan Architecture Magazine!
Reviving the Spirit of the Harbor — Safeguarding and Passing Down Taiwan’s King Boat Festival Culture
Rooted in the profound traditional beliefs of Asia’s coastal regions, this project takes Taiwan’s Donggang King Boat Festival as its design point of departure, transforming deeply ingrained folk faith into the central narrative of the cultural museum. More than a spatial construction, it is an act of cultural revival—beginning with reverence for the Wangye belief, extending to the craftsmanship of boatbuilding, the everyday lives of local communities, and the cultural memory of the fishing town, and further evolving into cultural experiences with tourism potential. By reinterpreting the triennial festival into a sustainable cultural tourism framework, the project reflects coastal residents’ reliance on and reverence for oceanic beliefs: the construction and burning of the King Boat symbolizes communication with the divine, sending away plague spirits, and praying for prosperity. Rituals such as inviting the gods, processions, and ceremonies culminate in the burning of the King Boat as the climactic moment of purification and protection. Guided by the principle that “life is culture, and culture is life,” the project reimagines the King Boat tradition, local boatbuilding craft, and ceremonial practices as a living museum, not only preserving heritage but also expanding the possibilities of cultural transmission, taking the first step toward envisioning a better future for the fishing town community.
In its architectural form, the project draws inspiration from the “King Boat,” translating its imagery and the spirit of the ocean into spatial design. The building massing responds to site conditions, adjacent to parks and greenbelts, with strategic setbacks that create a welcoming pedestrian plaza. At the base, folded lines with transparent glass reduce the sense of mass while evoking the dynamic movement of waves; the lifted folds define the entrance, linking the town with the cultural museum. Openings on the upper façade symbolize the “dragon eyes” of the King Boat, while surrounding circular apertures resemble splashing water, reinforcing the imagery of the festival. A viewing deck on the eastern rooftop strengthens the connection between people and the sea, offering an immersive cultural experience. The façade employs textured HPC (High-Performance Concrete), an environmentally friendly material highly resistant to salinity and humidity, suitable for the coastal environment. Its surface texture interacts with the southern sunlight, creating rich variations of light and shadow throughout the day.
Read more：Pingtung King Boat Museum
