Founded in 1977, Chin Pao San is renowned as Taiwan’s first “park-like” cemetery—and among the first globally—to integrate high-end art, sculpture, and landscape design into a memorial and interment space. Spearheaded by the progressive vision of Cao Rizhang, it transformed the concept of funerary space into one that fuses cultural expression and commemorative practice. Located along the hills of the Jinshan Mountains in New Taipei, the cemetery spans over one hundred hectares. Initially established as a sculpture park supporting the local arts community, particularly the work of Taiwanese artist Ju Ming, Chin Pao San has evolved into a comprehensive enterprise. Today, it encompasses departments for cemetery property management, funeral and religious services, pre-need contracts, engineering, public relations, visitor engagement, and philanthropic initiatives.
With a longstanding commitment to architectural excellence, Chin Pao San commissions renowned architects to lead its ongoing development and capacity expansions. Within its extensive and steeply stepped landholdings, Steven Holl Architects was commissioned to design a new “Arrival Hall” to accommodate urn sites and to integrate a hotel, auditorium, museums, and amphitheater.
The Necropolis addresses funerary architecture on multiple levels: spiritual inclusivity, landscape integration, large-scale ceremonial planning, and the psychological nuance of mourning spaces. The project’s central geometry—intersecting spheres inspired by Borromean Rings—suggests the interdependence of belief systems, human relationships, and cosmological structures. This symbolic formalism parallels the intent for Trinity: to create an ecumenical and contemplative environment, resonant across diverse traditions.
While Chin Pao San offers non-denominational interment, it primarily serves Buddhist communities and hosts a full calendar of Buddhist religious celebrations, making its grounds a living space of ritual and gathering. In a similar spirit, the design refrains from reliance on surface ornamentation, favoring material restraint, spatial procession, and elemental clarity.
In alignment with the client’s vision to modernize the user experience, appeal to future generations, and further intertwine art and architecture, our design for the urn shelving halls employs a refined and contemporary architectural language. The project redefines how architecture can serve remembrance and ritual. Comprising a ceremonial pavilion and arrival complex, it supports 150,000 ashbox sites—a major expansion upon an existing 10,000- and offers a precedent for our proposal at Trinity—engaging scale, symbolism, and spiritual plurality with clarity and imagination.
Niches and urns are arranged in radial, orthogonal, and circular forms—typological studies that inform how we might approach storage and memorial logic on a more intimate scale at the Manhattan site. The spirit of simplicity and elegance is embodied through the use of noble materials: brass, CNC-sculpted wood, and gold leaf overlays. Eschewing expressive moldings and ornate detailing, the shelving designs present a calm, timeless quality. Carefully placed skylights, cast glass façade inserts, and curated openings foster an atmosphere of contemplation, meditation, and peace.
A strict aesthetic code governs product appearance, with no customization allowed for urn shelving faceplates or memorial tablet graphics, aligning with cultural expectations—except in cases of high-profile individuals. Chin Pao San is the final resting place of numerous prominent figures from Taiwan and the greater Chinese-speaking world, including Teresa Teng, Coco Lee, Godfrey Gao, and Lu Hsiu-yi.
Innovative technologies were incorporated in both planning and visitor experience. Given the scale—over 160,000 urns and 7,500m² per floor—wayfinding is supported through smartphone navigation systems. One innovative feature of SHA’s proposal was the design of the Tree of Life, a large wall of Buddhist Memorial Tablets. This is a key feature on the exterior facade of one of the most remarkable exterior spaces with astounding views of the Pacific Ocean. Amber stone tablets are indented to be digitally carved with the departed’s information, and its integral translucency would bring natural, colored light to large ceremonial interior Hall .Ecological sensitivity is also central to the design: a sheet of water incorporating photovoltaics supplies 60% of the site’s energy needs. While linking to the Buddhist water-pouring rituals and ash scattering tradition connecting with the views of east China sea beyond.
Above all, Chin Pao San demonstrates that architecture for the departed can also serve the living—offering communion, orientation, and quiet transcendence. These values guide and inspire our work at Trinity.
Client
ChinPaoSan Group (Taiwan, China)
Location
Taipei, China
Year
2013
Status
Construction
architect
Steven Holl Architects
Steven Holl (design architect, principal)
Roberto Bannura (partner in charge)
Noah Yaffe (partner, project advisor)
Wenying Sun, Tsung Yen Hsieh, Xi Chen, Yu-Ju Lin, Peter Chang (project architect)
Michael Rusch, Bell Ying Yi Cai, Seo Hee Lee, Yun Shi, Yan Zhang, Arseni Timofejev, Qiyue Hu, Shenpei Ha, Justin Bouttell, Luna Chen, George Grieve, Anke Kunzmann, Lydia Liu, Yu-chun Lin, Yun Pu, Michele Verdi, Susan Wang, Shih-Huseh Wang, Chuojie Xian, Yuanchu Yi, Xu Zhang, Zhu Zhu (project team)
Steven Holl (design architect, principal)
Roberto Bannura (partner in charge)
Noah Yaffe (partner, project advisor)
Wenying Sun, Tsung Yen Hsieh, Xi Chen, Yu-Ju Lin, Peter Chang (project architect)
Michael Rusch, Bell Ying Yi Cai, Seo Hee Lee, Yun Shi, Yan Zhang, Arseni Timofejev, Qiyue Hu, Shenpei Ha, Justin Bouttell, Luna Chen, George Grieve, Anke Kunzmann, Lydia Liu, Yu-chun Lin, Yun Pu, Michele Verdi, Susan Wang, Shih-Huseh Wang, Chuojie Xian, Yuanchu Yi, Xu Zhang, Zhu Zhu (project team)
local architect
Chou Chienping Architects
Tashee Architects
local structural engineer
TH TSAI and Associates
structural engineer
Guy Nordenson & Associates
mechanical engineer
Heng Kai Inc
climate engineers
Transsolar
Lighting Designer
L’Observatoire International
