Feng Chia Night Market is one of the most famous night markets in Taichung City, Taiwan. It is located within 1 kilometer from Feng Chia University, making it home to most of its students.The area provides an assortment of shops to browse through which have food and drink stands, clothing stores, restaurants, games to play, and most notably, lots of snacks to please any palate.

In the south of Taiwan, the National Palace Museum in Taipei is one of country’s most popular tourist attractions. However, the number of visitors to the Southern Branch has fallen considerably, risking the chance of it becoming a white elephant.

So what would happen with all of the art pieces that are stored away inside the museum? The aim of the project is to relocate the most important relics of Taiwan from the museum to the most unexpected spots of the Night Market. The whole project is hidden amongst the market’s domain, providing only one entrance through a shop where one can discover the whole history of Taiwan divided by all its Dynasties.

In the empty spaces or opportunity areas inside this chaos (courtyards, roofs, abandon houses), design allows a way in which one can follow an alternative path to visit the relics. The relics are placed in the abandoned houses with proper temperature, humidity and light conditions. The entrance structure can be placed in different ways to provide functionality for the visitors, but also for the people that live in the buildings. The structure is based on catenaries made out of fibreglass. They grow proportionally depending on the space available. The floor hangs from the arches and is supported laterally to reinforce the stability.

Each arch is covered with an organic and biodegradable material made from the fermentation of tea, where bacterial cellulose is grown and used as a textile. Depending on the level of privacy, this material is treated in different ways so it can produce alternative ambiences.