Design Zones in Taiwan Design Expo 2024

The Design Zone’s leading exhibition venue revolved around the Tainan Museum of Art’s Hall 2, featuring six fascinating exhibitions. With the Tainan Museum of Art being promoted to a national art museum, becoming the fourth national-level art museum in Tainan, hosting the Taiwan Design Expo here was even more meaningful. The newly renovated West Market and Banana Warehouse, which also serve as the Design Zone, reopened for the first time during the Expo. In addition, various locations hosted seven urban exhibitions. These included 321 Art Alley, Blueprint Cultural Creative Park, Japanese Patriotic Women’s Hall, Tainan Railway Station, the charming Confucius Temple Commercial District, Guohua Friendship Commercial District, Yongle Market. The Xiangkao Village Multi-Function Center was transformed into a stylish dining room. During the event, the entire city actively embraced the vibrant charm of the Expo.

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Past and future together in design

This year’s Taiwan Design Expo attracted more than 100 designers and brands, and during the 16-day event, arts and culture institutions organized two design zones, nine thematic exhibits, five urban exhibits, 13 special tours, and 15 arts and cultural events. With more than nine urban regeneration projects infused with innovative design energy, the Expo highlighted Tainan’s cultural pride in the “Next 400” and presented the city’s inspiring future.

A urban exhibition

The urban exhibition at Taiwan Design Expo included 321 Art Alley, Blueprint Cultural Creative Park, Japan Patriotic Women’s Association Building, Tainan Railway Station, the charming Confucius Temple Business District, Guohua Friendship Business District, and Yongle Market, capturing the essence of Tainan’s lifestyle. The whole city of Tainan responded, launching five exhibitions and ten activities that brought together different aspects of art, literature, food, faith, sustainability and more. The Xiangkao Village Multi-Function Centre was transformed into a stylish eatery, and hidden gourmet chefs were invited to show off their culinary talents.

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Taiwan Design Expo: a platform to promote urban design integration

The ever-evolving Taiwan Design Expo is a large-scale design exhibition and a platform to promote cooperation between the central and local governments in industrial innovation, urban aesthetics, and neighborhood revitalization. Looking back, this year’s Taiwan Design Expo brought four important innovations through partnerships with the city government and various organizations. First, the “West Market” represented the venue innovation. It attracted enthusiastic crowds and revived the splendor of the largest public market in southern Taiwan. Second, urban innovation involved both the central and local governments. They jointly invested resources in urban aesthetics projects, shopping street revitalization, railway station renovation, and integrating design into public spaces.

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Third, industrial innovation allowed Tainan to adopt a new image as an industrial hub in addition to its well-known reputation as a cultural capital. For the first time, outstanding local enterprises and pioneering industries came together to showcase their global achievements. Finally, in Sustainability Innovation, Tainan City, the first city in Taiwan to enact a low-carbon governance law, introduced various initiatives and achievements in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A traveling expo

Coinciding with the 400th anniversary of the founding of Tainan City, the 2024 Taiwan Design Expo embodied the above themes and presented a comprehensive and contemporary vision. Looking ahead, the Taiwan Design Expo will move to Changhua City in 2025, and Taoyuan will take the lead in 2026.
All photos from TDRI.org website