Social Paradigm of Adaptation - Luodong Cultural House, Fieldoffice Architects, Yilan

THE VASCULAR BUNDLE Social Paradigm of Adaptation: Yilan County, Taiwan Fieldof fice Architects

Pa ra d i g m s of Ad a p t a t io n Sp r i n g 20 18 A r ch i tec tu re & Su s t a in a b l e D e sign Si n g ap o r e Un i vers i ty of Tech n ol o gy & De sign ( S U T D )

Works by: Chek Hong Yao Gabri el D ebbie Goh Yan Pi ng Nurul A syi qi n Zahrin S aman tha Li m Shou E n Abh ipsa Pal R oxan ne The n M i n Hu i

THE VASCULAR BUNDLE Social Paradigm of Adaptation: Yilan County, Taiwan Fieldof fice Architects

Pa ra d i g m s of Ad a p t a t io n Sp r i n g 20 18 A r ch i tec tu re & Su s t a in a b l e D e sign Si n g a p o r e Un i vers i ty of Tec h n o l o gy & De sign ( S U T D )

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

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1 OVERVIEW

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Defining Social Paradigm

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Overview of Yilan

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Fieldoffice’s Approach

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Social Paradigm of Adaptation in Yilan

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Overview of Case Studies

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Analysis & Evaluation

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CASE STUDIES

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Shipai Jinmian Platform

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by Roxanne Then Min Hui

by Abhipsa Pal

by Samantha Lim Shou En

by Nurul Asyiqin Zahrin

by Debbie Goh Yan Ping

by Chek Hong Yao Gabriel

Cherry Blossom Cemetery Jin-Mei Pedestrian Bridge Yang Shih-Fang Memorial Garden Yilan Museum of Art Luodong Cultural Working House

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ABSTRACT

Through the collection of essays in this book, we aim to discuss the social paradigm of adaptation in Yilan, Taiwan, with a focus of projects done by Fieldoffice Architects - an architectural firm located within Yilan City. We will begin with the definition and aspects of the social paradigm to inform our analysis of the social impact on the work of the firm’s adaptation of spaces, infrastructure and archetypes.

Following which, we will look at an overview of Yilan in terms of its history, geography, demographics, social conditions and mission. The practice by Fieldoffice Architects and their contribution to Yilan will also be studied. We will discuss a summary of observations and findings from the various case studies in the other attached essays. Lastly, the success of these projects will be determined and analysed, and conclude with our group’s view on the current state of social paradigm of adaptation within the global context.

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The intimate relationship between Yilan and its people and culture is obvious. This essay will thus look at this relationship through a series of case studies by Filedoffice Architects.

The analysis of these projects may reveal how they are able to strengthen the social paradigm in Yilan, such as the high levels of participation of the locals even during project development, and what the project has done for the community after completion in lieu with the factors as mentioned above.

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CASE STUDIES

CASE STUDIES In this section, we will be discussing six projects by Fieldoffice Architects have been selected and analysed to see how they fit in with the social paradigm in Yilan.

1 - Shipai Jinmian Observatory 2 - Cherry Orchard Cemetery 3 - Jin-Mei Parasitic Bridge 4 - Yang Shi-Fang Memorial Garden 5 - Yilan Museum of Art 6 - Luodong Cultural Working House

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3 4 5

(show map of projects) 6

Figure 2.0.1 - Map of Case Study Projects

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2.0 - CASE STUDIES

Clockwise from top Shipai Jinmian Observatory, Cherry Orchard Cemetery, Jin-Mei Parasitic Bridge, Yang Shi-Fang Memorial Garden, Yilan Museum of Art, Luodong Cultural Working House

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CASE STUDY #6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE (羅東文化工場)

by Chek Hong Yao Gabriel A center for performances, sports and leisure, and development of the cultural and creative industries.

Year: 1997 - 2014

THE LANDMARK OF LUODONG TOWNSHIP The Luodong Cultural Working House is situated within Luodong Township, the smallest town in Yilan County in terms of area (11.34km2) but the second most densely populated township with 100,000 people after Yilan City Township. The township is in the rainy subtropical zone of Yilan.

The project is in the Luodong City Centre, situated beside the main ring road that surrounds the city centre. Apart from the Cultural Working House, the ring road enclosed important landmarks with high cultural value such as the Luodong Forestry Park and the Yilan County Natural History Center.

Predominately residential and a single agricultural area surround the central core.

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

Figure 2.6.1 - Luodong Cultural Working House

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FROM TIMBER FACTORY TO CULTURAL LANDMARK The site was a timber factory before regulations were placed on the reduction of the logging in the county. The move from extensive logging to a cultural landscape started when the Forestry Bureau was formed in 1960. [1] As part of efforts to revitalise the county, the Yilan government proposed guidelines for city development, with one focusing on ‘Cherishing the History and Looking Forward�. [2] Yilan City-based Fieldoffice Architects said it took 15 years, from 1997 - 2014 to produce a concept that melded the needs and wishes of local residents with modern style.

The process included a close working together with the people of Luodong. The citizens requested for something more was required than a rural-themed cultural establishment, adding that the final design delivered a cutting-edge structure reflecting the characteristics of Luodong.

The design was well received and the architect Huang Sheng-yuan won first place in the eighth Far Eastern Architectural Design Award and highly referred to as the cultural landmark of Luodong Township.

The success of the design is seen as the canopy is being used for a variety of cultural and social events, planned and selfinitiated, with the sight of communities coming together and bonding over these activities.

[1] Luodong Forestry Culture Park - Forestry Bureau Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan [online] https:// www.forest.gov.tw/EN/0000222 (accessed 25 April 2018) [2] Four Themes of Yilan City Planning - Yilan City Office [online] http://www.ilancity.gov.tw/en/link2-2.asp (accessed 25 April 2018)

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

Figure 2.6.2 - Historical Watershed Archetype

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Figure 2.6.3 - Canopy overlooking the adjacent lake

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

ADAPTATION OF THE WATERSHED ARCHETYPE For a long time, the washing-shed has been a common structure in the agricultural areas of Yilan. It is an important archetype in the region because it protects people from the rainy climate and acts as a gathering place for human activities and interaction. In this sense, this shed can be perceived as a mediator between the built environment and the rural area.

The clever adaptation of the watershed was the main strategy for the social paradigm of adaptation.

To reflect the history of Luodong in the lumber industry, when the design of the canopy related to the form of the watershed and included a reasonable proportion of timber and lightweight steel, that encloses space below.

The material palette is in line with the relatable watershed and remains coherent with the design intention to create a collective memory of the history of the timber industry when one visits the site. The canopy is, however, larger in scale to accommodate the programs beneath which we will explore later.

Huang also mentions that the ‘large amount of space within the building symbolises Taiwan’s freedom and openness’.

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ANALYSIS OF PROJECT 1. PROGRAM/COMPONENTS The development can be broken down into three components, each being able to be constructed separately - the canopy, sky gallery and cultural rooms.

The project started with the installation of half the canopy in 2004 to 2005, followed by the park and sports track adjacent to the canopy in 2006 and 2007, the sky gallery in 2011 and the cultural marketplace together with the other half of the canopy in 2012.

of the mountain South of the Cultural Working House. Seating areas are also created along steps that both function as circulation or as a place for respite and gathering.

The empty spaces all make up the generous amount of public space available. The three dimensionalities of public space are possible due to the lack of interior walls segmenting the spaces.

The canopy creates an implied superstructure which houses the cultural and social program below.

Firstly, ground floor enclosed and open top spaces for cultural programs take up a third of the floor area. Workshops, markets, lectures and festivals take place here. Secondly, the hovering 114-meter sky gallery, 8 metres off the ground, has space for exhibitions as well as viewing decks above to take in the views of the city and the mountain.

In Figure 2.6.5, we can see that the three distinct volumes are defined by the wide amount of space around.

These spaces provide the opportunity for sporadic and interesting programs to occur. For example, the sky gallery acted as an event space for cocktail parties before exhibition openings.

Lastly, the empty space beside the cultural zones remain a social leveller as it allows for the democratic use of the space for the community.

This space, sheltered by the canopy is home to various gatherings and activities (communal, individual) such as exercise, children playing games, or people simply taking in the sights

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

Memorial Library Canopy Running Track Sky Gallery Grassland Cultural Zones

Lake

Figure 2.6.4 - Site Context & Program

Figure 2.6.5 - ‘Emptiness’

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ANALYSIS OF PROJECT 2. CIRCULATION Apart from the relatively open plan of the ground floor, access to the sky gallery starts from the top floor above.

of providing access from one point to another, but they are installed for a social purpose.

When walking up the stairs, visitors can appreciate the Sky Gallery and the middle corridor beneath. Standing on the floating platform, they can take in all the surrounding scenes at a glance, with a wide-open horizon offering an exceptionally relaxed and romantic ambience. The arc path that ascends towards the sky gallery provides visitors new vantage points to view their city.

Circulation from the surrounding park into and out of the canopy is seamless due to the essence of ‘Emptiness’, where an emphasis on the use of empty space creates freedom to move from one space to another as well as the lack of external walls framing the canopy.

The idea of ‘giving back the views of the city’ to the people is one of the design strategies to create a collective memory through the revealing of the beauty of their town. One might anticipate spectacular views at the top as they walk up the link way to the gallery.

The architects also fulfilled the wish to cater to the mobility of the people and to reveal the beauty of the TaiPeng mountains from every possible direction exemplifies the mentality of the Public Construction Commission in Yilan that the land should be returned to the people.

In many of Fieldoffice’s projects in Yilan, circulation paths not only play the role

Figure 2.6.6 - Walkway leading towards the Sky Gallery

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

Figure 2.6.7 - Circulation and views

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ANALYSIS OF PROJECT 3. STRUCTURE There are two structural systems here in play: the canopy structure and columns supporting the ‘hovering’ sky gallery.

Even though they are separate systems, they both share a common design language of the slender cylinder columns made from timber or steel.

The materials relate to the watershed aesthetic and remains similar in form to the columns that holds up the roof of the watershed. However, the canopy here is supported by more columns positioned in a rectilinear grid while the diagonal column placement supporting the sky gallery is a refreshing addition.

This reflects the spirit of innovation that the city government is aiming to showcase to the world. In addition, the use of several timber columns has a double meaning here. Not only does it remind of the familiar water archetype, it also reminds of the vast forests Luodong still has around.

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Figure 2.6.8 - Structure

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THE CANOPY AS THE MAIN SOCIAL DRIVER: CRITICAL ANALYSIS In this section, I will like to analyse the use and design of the canopy in detail and push the notion that it is the main driver of social impact in the Luodong Cultural Working House.

oriented to the East-West axis.

Providing views to the mountain and town was important and remained to be a delight for visitors and citizens alike. It manages to reveal the beauty of the familiar landscape to the public eye while protecting the rural elements underneath, such as the irrigating streams and fields.

There are three main aspects of the canopy that I will be exploring: the urban form/connections, dimensionality/profile and structure/ materiality. With each feature, I will highlight the corresponding social implication to further establish the notion.

1. URBAN FORM AND CONNECTIONS The urban form and connections arising from the strategic placement and orientation of the canopy on site played an important role in cementing the social purpose of the project. In terms of form, the rectilinear footprint relates to the various similar shaped residences that surround the site. The form remains familiar and relatable to the people of Luodong, thus forming a connection with the culture of the township.

However, the placement of the canopy based on the alignment of views, access and program resulted in more positive social implications.

The canopy is oriented towards the Southern Mountainous regions aligned to a North-West to South East axis, as compared to the sky gallery being

The placement of the canopy beside the eco-lake and park was mediated by the empty buffer space that permeates between the urban and rural. This allowed the activation of activities connecting both types of spaces. The adjacency to nature and open space allowed for the canopy to play a role in create activities that activates both the urban and rural spaces for events and self-initiated activities. For Fieldoffice Architects, the canopy’s real function is consciously to ‘create emptiness’, which spatially emphasises that it is a democratic, boundary-blurring, classless space, while also expressing the vitality of the rural.

The canopy and adjacent nature interestingly switch roles which night falls. In the day, the canopy acts as shelter in the sweltering heat and the nature, backdrop. In the night, the canopy becomes the backdrop – a stage for performances, or maybe a screen for film screenings while the patch of green becomes a gathering area for visitors to watch the acts. What this brings about is a duality of the

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2.6 - LUODONG CULTURAL WORKING HOUSE

Figure 2.6.9 - Day and Night Scenario

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urban and rural that is accentuated by the presence of the canopy. These activities were only possible under the planning of “emptiness� beneath the canopy.

The decision to allow for a longer canopy helped to provide more space for activities at varying scales, from small scale individual activities to large scale events.

This emptiness anticipates the venue’s public common use as an urban amenity. While it makes a pronounced statement through its form, it also serves as a backdrop for various social activities. The flow of the public on the ground gives the place its purpose and identity. The canopy dissolves the boundary between the city and rural, inviting everyone into this urban field, and anticipates the future development of the surrounding regions.

The porous nature of the spaceframe canopy top, also allowed light to penetrate through to the interior, continually bathing the visitors in sunlight, bringing an element from the rural into the spaces below.

2. DIMENSIONALITY /PROFILE OF CANOPY The dimensionality and profile to the canopy relates the intended social causes as well. The 18 metre height of the canopy was specifically decided to be high enough to best reveal the views to the backdrop of the TaiPing mountains. The rectangular flat top spans 90 metres long and 54 metres wide to cover the hovering sky gallery, cultural program and open space below. The tall height allowed for daylight and ventilation to pass through the open spaces, catering for a comfortable experience for users appropriating the spaces. The tapered profile at the edges of the canopy leads a perceived lightness of the structure that separates the urban and rural, inviting the people into the new urban field.

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Figure 2.6.10 - Canopy as Reference Line

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EVALUATION

3. STRUCTURE AND MATERIALITY With regards to the structure and materiality of the canopy, the use of thin and lightweight steel for the canopy and timber for the supporting columns resonates with citizens due to its familiarity in the vernacular watershed.

The use of slender columns maintains the lightness in terms of visual mass, as it allows more of the scenery around to be viewed. In addition, the placement of the columns – along the boundary of the canopy gave the public unobstructed space within to have their activities.

The choice of selecting a lightweight material for the canopy frame maintains the function as shelter and a budgetfriendly solution to house the social and cultural program.

Thus, the intentional design of the urban form, dimensionality and profile as well as the structure and materiality of the canopy results in the canopy being the main social driver for the project. The project has become a place for interaction, gathering and icon part of a collective memory. Without the canopy, there might not be such a common understanding of the significance of the futuristic looking sky gallery and decontextualized open space. The reinterpretation of the familiar watershed archetype in this project has balanced the essence of the remembering the past in the prosperous timber industry and looking to the future of being a contemporary arts capital.

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Figure 2.6.11 - Thin Profile of canopy blurring the Urban-Rural Boundary

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RELATION TO OTHER PARADIGMS OF ADAPTATION 1. CULTURAL PARADIGM Apart from the social context, the adaptation of the watershed archetype in this project is motivated by the wish to raise the cultural capital of its people.

As mentioned earlier, this project was an addition to the Luodong central core, with various cultural institutions and facilities to educate and celebrate the past of the township.

2. URBAN ARTEFACT One might also view this project as an adaptation of the plot of land as an urban artefact. The area was already a marker of the city due to its location within the central core, and the only ‘missing’ piece of nature being adapted in the South West of the core.

The introduction of the cultural working house stitches with the existing program and becomes a new significant marker by itself due to its appeal to both citizens and tourists alike.

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Figure 2.6.12 - Urban Artefact

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CONDITION OF THE SOCIAL PARADIGM OF ADAPTATION IN YILAN The approaches taken by the government city planners, architects and citizens in Yilan to adapt for social purposes in Yilan has been successful because of the placed emphasis on collaboration and community. As seen in the Luodong Cultural Working House project, the consistent dialogue between the architect and the people over the 15 years shows how both parties appreciate the importance of social equality, mobility and identity in Luodong.

Creating open public spaces for all is the main strategy to take. By giving public space, there leaves an anticipation to see how the people will appropriate the space to his or her content. As the city government believes in a social mission in caring for her people, after taking care of their basic needs, they have managed to appeal to various communities across age, gender and race.

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Figure 2.6.13 - Programs

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END

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