“Clothing is the shell of our bodies;
architecture is the shell of our lives.
We design clothes according to the form of our bodies;
we design houses according to the content of our lives.”
— Wang Dahong
 
 
Wang Dahong (1917-2018) was one of the most influential architects in postwar Taiwan and a leading figure in the architectural scene from the 1950s through the 1970s. A graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), Wang studied under Walter Gropius, the founding director of the Bauhaus. His work inherited the modernist spirit of the Bauhaus while integrating elements of traditional Chinese culture.
 
Since 2006, Curator Shyu Mingsong have engaged in the works of architect Wang Dahong. As more findings from our research accumulated, the off-site reconstruction of Wang’s Jianguo South Road Residence, initiated in 2013 by the Wang Dahong Architectural Conservation Society, led us to recognize another important yet understudied aspect of his practice: the furniture he designed exclusively for his three personal residences. Comprising approximately 39 to 42 movable pieces, this body of work reveals that Wang acted not only as an architect, but also as a designer and a literary creator across multiple disciplines.
 
We were fully aware that this reproduction of those objects would require expertise far beyond architecture alone. Making furniture involved a wide range of crafts and materials, including carpentry, metalwork, lacquerwork, upholstery, and textile weaving for sofas and lampshades, all of which posed considerable challenges throughout the reproduction process. Wang Dahong spent relentlessly efforts in sorting out craftsmen, hardware, and custom details to create such one-and-only-one pieces that characterized his vision of an ideal home living environment. Such dedication might be seen unimaginable from ordinary people’s perspective while had been lasting through the period of his three home residences: the Jianguo South Road Residence (1953), Hong-Lu Apartment House (1964), and Hong-Ying Apartment House (1979). It seems that, alongside the evolution of his architectural thinking, Wang continually developed corresponding objects suited to each home—a pursuit perhaps only possible for a perfectionist with exceptional sensitivity.
 
Due to many original pieces were no longer existed, in addition of the enormous demanding from this reproducing process, we did not start our archival research, interviews, and drawing studies until March 2019. And only from September 2023 were we able to commence full-scale 1:1 reproductions. Closely consulting with Wang’s family, we constantly speculated the possible specifications and status of the furniture, while fully aware that history can never be recovered in full. Swinging in between speculating and fact-finding, we tried to approach the original as close as possible.
 
We presents 16 pieces of furniture newly reproduced, alongside 4 selected reproductions originally installed in the reconstructed Jianguo South Road Residence completed in 2017, in total of 20 pieces, as core content in this exhibition; representing another important milestone in our ongoing study of Wang Dahong.
 
Following its debut at the Agricultural Exhibition Hall of National Taiwan University, this exhibition is now moved to the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. Locals from Kaohsiung are also invited to visit the reconstructed Jianguo South Road Residence—now the “Wang Dahong House Theatre” of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum—to view the rest of the replicas in Wang Dahong’s first residence.
 
 
 
 
Organiser│
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts
 
Co-organizer │
Department of Architecture, Ming Chuan University
 
Executive Unit │
Wang Dahong Architectural Conservation Society
 
Curators │
Shyu Ming Song, Huang Wei Ting
 
Inaugural Exhibition Sponsor ｜
Tsai, Mei Dai & Liu, Tsung Jung George, C.Y.Wang Architect & Associates, Bio-architecture Formosana, Hsiao Chia-Fu Architects & Associates, Puyong Construction And Development Co., Ltd., Sorgsam Construction Co., Ltd, Environmental Dimension Studios
 
Touring Exhibition Sponsor ｜
Wu, Fong Ling Stella & Liu, Chih Hung Simon
 
 
 

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【Exhibition Guide】*Language: Chinese
 
● June 20, 2026 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
Speaker: Curator Shyu Ming Song
Location: 2F, “Beautiful of Kaohsiung” Corridor
 
● July 26, 2026 (Sun.) 14:00-16:00
Speaker: Curator Huang Wei Ting
Location: 2F, “Beautiful of Kaohsiung” Corridor
 
● September 12, 2026 (Sat.) 14:00-16:00
Speaker: Curator Huang Wei Ting
Location: 2F, “Beautiful of Kaohsiung” Corridor
 
● December 20, 2026 (Sun.) 14:00-16:00
Speaker: Curator Huang Wei Ting
Location: 2F, “Beautiful of Kaohsiung” Corridor