Gold Architecture · 2026
The Taipei Weather Station Meteorological Instruments Center
by IMO Architecture and JC Cheng Associates
- Golden A' Design Award 2026 in Architecture
- CLIENT: IMO Architecture + Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 57,951
- Verification code 8B7F35D08A · Verify this award
Colors
About The Taipei Weather Station Meteorological Instruments Center
The Taipei Weather Station is a meteorological facility built in New Taipei City, Taiwan. Three buildings hold two weather bureau departments and a multifunctional room, joined by an undulating three-dimensional roof. Reinforced concrete gives resistance to typhoons and earthquakes, while Corten steel fins and deep roof overhangs provide shade, light and views. The fins move with the wind and return to their original position through a cable suspension system. The outdoor space between the buildings holds weather measurement instruments.
About the Golden A' Design Award
The Taipei Weather Station Meteorological Instruments Center is a Golden A' Design Award winner, an immensely prestigious recognition granted to first-rate, marvelous, and outstanding designs. Golden winners are exceedingly innovative, visionary, and glamorously dazzling creations that reflect the prodigy, wisdom, and prowess of their designers. The Taipei Weather Station Meteorological Instruments Center is expected to be a highly praised, trendsetting, and monumental invention that delivers unprecedented value. This Golden A' Design Award-winning design is a spectacular, respected project that highly benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. The Taipei Weather Station Meteorological Instruments Center creates intense feelings of desire, evokes passion, encourages creativity, and fascinates us.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The Taipei Weather Station is a manifestation of the environment it inhabits and seeks to observe, forming a visible dialogue with nature. Wind activates movable fins; rain threads their Corten surfaces, expressing time and weather. Sunlight filters through, casting shifting shadows on wind-shaped forms. The design reflects a belief that architecture can foster creativity, inspiration, mental health, and well-being.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Client Name: New Taipei City Government
Size: 3,283 square meters.
Project Budget: 4,200,000.00 USD - Tags
- Environmental integration, Experiential Architecture, Corten Steel, Moving Architecture
- Production Technology
- The design features 3 buildings housing two weather bureau departments and a multifunctional room, all connected by a 3D undulating roof blending seamlessly with the natural environment. Inspired by synoptic weather charts, the form withstands Taiwan's high precipitation, humidity, strong typhoons, and earthquakes. Reinforced concrete ensures resilience, while Corten fins and deep roof overhangs provide shade from the subtropical sun and allow light and views. These fins, with a novel cable suspension system, return to 0 degrees after wind gusts. The outdoor space between the buildings is dedicated to weather measurement instrument data collection.
- Design Challenge
- This project faced tight budget constraints and complex scientific requirements. The wind tunnel’s size, vibration, and noise posed challenges near sensitive instruments. Weather devices required both isolation and accessibility with strict adjacent structure height limitations. The building also had to withstand earthquakes, typhoons, and power outages. The low sprawling plan of the design with the wind tunnel located below grade is tuned to address each of these, while fostering scientists’ well-being in day-to-day operation.
- Research
- This research explored how to design a building that meets laboratory standards, integrating meteorological instruments and a wind tunnel. Objectives included achieving international‑level weather measurements and reducing vibration and noise by placing the tunnel underground. The tunnel tested facade resilience against typhoons, inspiring wind‑activated fins on a novel cable system that make airflow visible. Digital analysis shaped a 3D roof to harvest rainwater for irrigation. Results improved performance, sustainability, and user experience, with impacts on design practice, society, and community value.
- Inspiration
- As technology reshapes the world, monotonous jobs are giving way to dynamic roles valuing leadership, creativity, and communication. The design imagines spaces beyond data points and utility, reconnecting observers with the natural environment they study to harness nature's positive effects on productivity, mood, memory, and stress relief. Material, form, and planning emphasize connections with the environment, encouraging engagement, while common spaces foster community among scientists.
- Project Duration
- The Taipei Weather Station project was initiated in April 2014 as a competition entry. The design phase took place between 2014 and 2019, developed collaboratively in Taiwan and Spain. Construction began in 2019 and was completed in 2023 in New Taipei City, Taiwan.
- Operation Flow
- This design redefines what a weather station can be by reconnecting the observer with natural processes. Unlike traditional methods that reduce weather to mere data points, it makes weather phenomena also experienceable for scientists. Wind-reactive fins reflect invisible air currents, while sustainable Corten material captures the passage of time and precipitation. The facade visualizes the sun and nature's movement, creating dynamic murals of light and shadow. This approach balances scientific activities with the experience of nature, fostering mental health and well-being.
- Image Credits
- IMO Architecture + Design
