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　US Architect Antoine Predock Announced as winner of international competition to design the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum.

Antoine Predock has been selected from a field of 6 finalists by the competition jury as the architect to design the National Palace Museum's Southern Branch.

The National Palace Museum has announced the first prize winner of the open international design competition to design its Southern Branch. The winning proposal was submitted by US architect Antoine Predock and selected from a field of 6 finalists by the competition jury on the 23rd of November.

Explaining his concept, Antoine Predock said: "Our proposal brings into focus a synthesizing concept of the intimate, varied Pan-Asian universe that the NPMSB intends to illuminate: 'the need to know ourselves and other Asian regions as well." He also said: "Like Lin Hwai-min and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan's 2001 production, 'Cursive', visitors move through space and atmosphere, 'imitating the linear route of ink, full of lyrical flows and strong punctions, with rich variations in energy."

　The winning design centers on the imagery of a mountain as a symbol for the architecture. Visitors can enter from either the south or north side of the museum complex and into the centre court of the museum. In other words, aside from purchasing tickets to view the museum collection, members of the public do not need to purchase tickets to enter the museum complex, pass through the centre court to enjoy the views and courtyard of the museum complex, allowing the museum to be more accessible and have a closer relationship with the public. After entering the museum from the plaza, the principal circulation path continues along a gentle slope, guiding the visitors upward to the regular exhibition hall. Juror, Mr. Aaron Betsky expressed: "There are a number of spectacular experiences the visitor will be able to have here, from moving through the building on a curving walkway without entering, to sheltering in its shadows, to rising up through the magic mountain and its vertical forest of wood lattice works, to becoming immersed in the sequence of dark and glowing spaces where the art of Asia will unfold like the Silk Road, leading to the futuristic and floating space of the new media gallery."

Mr. Moshen Mostafavi, spokesman of the jury, said: "The jury was not only seeking the best solution for a building that would house this new collection of artifacts but for a strong visual symbol that would be readily identified with the museum and the region. The scheme by Antoine Predock Architects fulfills all of the above and unites the building with the surrounding landscape."

Juror, Mr. Gary Hack commented that: "The Antoine Predock Jade Mountain is a unique and wonderful response to the site and its setting. It promises to become a world class museum, recognizing Asian traditions, but reimagining them for the future.' He also added that: 'The dualities of open and enclosed, dark and light, tradition and modern, roofed and soaring will create an experience unlike any others.'

"I judge that it will become known as one of the great new museum projects of the early 21st century, being seen as an icon of Taiwan's culture ambitions, and I am confident that it will be a museum which many will be anxious to experience", said juror, Mr. Robert Anderson.

　Antoine Predock expressed that the National Palace Museum Southern Branch will be "an approachable, celebratory community center, a fluid, living scroll, that is woven and read, felt and lived, as it travels back in time, spiraling and unfolding toward contemporary Taiwan and the future."

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