Many museums in Taiwan are housed in renovated and repurposed historical buildings. This practice revitalizes disused cultural assets in cities, and in the process old wood materials and tiles are collected in a “materials bank”. The National Taiwan Museum has reused many of the recycled materials from the materials bank as display cases, particularly for short-term exhibitions such as the Creative Expo of Taiwan and the Taipei International Book Exhibition. This reuse gives old wood materials a new lease on life. Once the short-term exhibitions come to a close, the materials embark on the next leg of their journey.

The re-use of old wood materials extends the preservation of cultural assets. In this exhibition, materials are being used as the focal point of display design for the first time in an effort to highlight the concept of sustainability. By reducing single-use display materials, museums are also contributing to the protection of our beautiful planet.