AIA IR Taipei - Contextual Revelation - Revealing History with Design
When: Friday 26 February 2021 @ 06:00 (Eastern US Time)/ 19:00 (Taipei time)
CES Credits - 2.0 LU
Description
Finding historical traces while balancing this with the need to add on has been a struggle for many practitioners. This lecture considers this topic via a case study - the addition to Pingtung Public Library by Mayu Architects. A new and transparent lobby is attached to the existing building facing the city. The course considers the following aspects of the project to understand the issues involved in constructing an addition to a historic building:
1. At the urban scale, how it reorients the entrance to face the city and embrace the citizen’s daily life.
2. At the architectural scale, how the new glass entrance serves as a big open window linking the interior to the exterior, displaying the activities in the library to the city while taking in the surrounding landscape, bringing vitality to the interior.
3. Program intervention: the creation of several “activity islands” in the lobby, with triangular elements, including a sunken seating area, a floating mezzanine, and a pair of suspended lanterns. Given its form, use of materials, colors, and its social- cultural meanings, the new lobby is a modern interpretation of a “slate building”, a typical aboriginal dwelling type in Pingtung.
4. Spatial considerations: the removal of monumental concrete stairs to create a pair of double height spaces for seniors and teenagers. The introduction of natural materials, modern furniture and glass partitions here helps bring fluidity, transparency and a sense of intimacy to the library.
