Taichung CCC

"An architectural landscape inside out, outside in"

The concept of the Taichung cultural centre is conceived on multiple levels as an architectural landscape. Urbanistically it works as an extension of the park and tries to blend the setting of the city with the scenery of the park. Geometrically, the massing of the project is designed to communicate with the expected building heights of the surrounding neighborhoods in order to integrate the building mass into the context, while making the exterior skin an extension of the urban user surface. The resulting forms of the two architectural programs emphasize a void between the two. This void works as an urban gate to and from the park and not only becomes a public space but also the access point to the programmatic interior. At times this space can work as an urban plaza as well as an extension of the park. In addition to the urban gate the roof of the library ramps up from the park level, making the resulting surface an expansion of the scenery. The ramp works as a viewing platform, a gathering space, an outdoor reading room and also an urban auditorium using the park as its stage. Furthermore the project with its specific geometry integrates the pool of the movie Pi within its landscape and making it another vital component of this cultural destination.

The two components, the library and the museum are connected through an integrated landscape podium that serves as the main lobby and entrance space. This space is accessed from the void between the two. The architectural idea of the landscape continues further in the interior space of the project. The program of the library is structured as cascading platforms. The perimeter wall of each platform is containing books, making the platforms appear as a mountain of books that surrounds an exterior courtyard. Each platform has an integrated reading space. These spaces communicate vertically between the levels and offer new viewing relationships to the reader and visitor. On ground level the library has a large landscape inviting visitors to gather, to read or to just enjoy the space.

In the same way as the library the interior of the museum is structured as a contoured mountain. The main exhibition is located in the staggered contours. Each contoured space is surrounded by a circulatory space that not only functions as the main circulatory system throughout the museum complex but also as a secondary exhibition route, allowing for multiple shows at the same time by intertwining them through their adjacency. This circulatory space moderates between the inside of the main exhibition and the outside of the park and the city. The space cascades between the two and mediates between the different levels by generating specific viewing conditions. These cascading platforms will work as well for large-scale sculptural exhibitions as well for gathering spaces and refreshment spaces.

The specific perforated façade of both programmatic components gives the project a unifying appearance, while emphasizing the idea of the landscape through its undulating organization. The skin that works as a shading device also reveals glimpses to the exterior making the surrounding landscape part of the visitor’s experience. The material of the skin is made of pre-cast concrete panels and is supported by a structural diagrid.


Project Title: "Taichung City - Cultural Center"
Location: Taichung, Taiwan
Design year: 2013
Type: Competition entry
Client/Organisation: Taichung City, Taiwan


45_taichungcccrla07.jpg
 Taichung City - Cultural Center   Rocker Lange Architects 
45_taichungcccrla06.jpg
       
45_taichungcccrla08.jpg
 Taichung Cultural Center    Competition 
45_taichungcccrla09.jpg
       
45_taichungcccrla11.jpg
       
45_taichungcccrla13.jpg
 Taichung cultural centre   Rocker- Lange Architects 
45_taichungcccrla12.jpg
       

more...

Rocker-Lange Architects

Principals

Ingeborg M. Rocker
Christian J. Lange

Cambridge, MA, London, England, Hong Kong

Projects

2015 100 Van Ness, Urban Adapter, sculpture bench
2015 Shanghai Lilong Tower Urbanism, Towards an Urbanism of Parametric Preservation
2014 The Ideal City of Refigured Civic Space, Hong Kong & Shenzhen Biennale, Hong Kong
2013 Blend-es-Scape, Beijing, China, A pavilion for the Fifth International Architectural Biennale – Beijing 2013
2013 Taichung Cultural Centre, Taichung, Taiwan
2012 Wallhouse, Cambridge, USA,GSD Pavilion 2012 2012 Density & Openess Reviseted: Recoding Building Bulk in Hong Kong, Hong Kong & Shenzhen Biennale, Hong Kong
2011 Busan Opera House, Busan, South Korea
2010 Serial Architecture – Systems of Multiplicities, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
2010 Tokyo Fashion Museum, Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan
2009 Urban Adapter, Hong Kong & Shenzhen Biennale, Hong Kong
2009 Catalytic Connector - Museum of Natural History, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 Living Bridge – London Bridge, London, UK
2008 Villa Inside|Out Outside|In, The Ordos 100, Mongolia, China
2007 Domicile Heldt, Eckernfoerde, Germany
2006 Villa Risse, Krefeld, Germany

Product Design

2010 Zhuhai Lounge
2009 SP-Table_01
2009 SP-Table_02
2009 Urban Adapter

Research

2010 Parametric Structures, Spring Seminar, The University of Hong Kong, Department of Architecture
2009 On the Brink, Spring Seminar, Harvard University, GSD
Versioning: Architecture as Series
Cross scalar and functional scaling: adaptive facades
Algorithmically controlled surfaces

Publications

2008 Versioning: Architecture as Series?
2008 Berechneter Zufall: Max Benses Informationsaesthetik
2008 Architectures of the Digital Realm: Experimentation by Peter Eisenman / Frank O. Gehry
2006 Digital Revolution: Feedback between Architecture, Technology, and Culture
2006 Calculus-Based Form: An Interview with Greg Lynn
2006 When Code Matters, in Programming Cultures: Design, Science, and Software
2005 Re-Coded: Studio Rocker
2004 Das Denkmal fuer die Ermordeten Juden Europas in Berlin: Erinnern, Bewahren, Hinterfragen
2004 Virtuale: Il Senza Forma in Architettura: Di Ingeborg Rocker
2003 Fugitive Realities: Konrad Fiedler
2002 Versioning Informing Architectures, in: Versioning: Evolutionary Techniques in Architecture
1998 Memorizing, Maintaining, Questioning: Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Peter Eisenman
1998 The Virtual: The Unform in Architecture