16-03-2016

Norihiko Dan and Associates: Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre Taiwan

Design,

Norihiko Dan and Associates have won the competition for the new Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre in Taiwan, inspired by the rock dwellings of Cappadocia and of the Loess Plateau in China. Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre is a reflection on the relationship between architecture and the morphology of the land.



Norihiko Dan and Associates: Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre Taiwan

As the winner of an international competition announced in 2003, Japanese studio Norihiko Dan and Associates designed Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre, a concrete structure that fits boldly yet delicately into the hilly wooded landscape of Sun Moon Lake. Norihiko Dan and Associates worked in a very particular location on the northern shore of the lake, one of Taiwan’s most important holidays resorts, especially for honeymooners. Along the lakefront with its beaches dotted with hotels and restaurants, in a spot where the lake forms a natural cove, the local authorities decided to build a reception centre providing visitor information for tourists coming primarily from within Taiwan, with the goal of making the centre into a tourist attraction in its own right.
One of four new tourism centres to be built by Taiwan in the framework of the “Landform Series” contest, the Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre project is a reflection on the relationship between architecture and the morphology of the land, a theme particularly dear to the Japanese studio, currently the focus of an exhibition entitled “Norihiko Dan - Chikei” at Architektur Galerie in Berlin.

Sun Moon Lake Visitor Centre is a construction which establishes an equilibrium between disappearing into the landscape as an autogenous element during the day and appearing in the evening with its artificial light, underlining the concrete structures as if they were the vertebrae of a big prehistoric animal.
Like a sort of continuation of the natural cove on the lakeshore, the project includes bodies of water embracing the construction, which is formed of two boomerang-shaped buildings revolving around one another. With the intention of restoring the built area to the land, the soil removed to build the foundations has been reclaimed and reused in the construction, while the roofs have been transformed into big green surfaces. Long access ramps transform the centre into a viewpoint, redesigning the perimeter of the two volumes and drawing a hilly profile that emerges naturally out of the land. A bird’s eye view reveals the desire to create an organic, symbiotic structure which arises naturally out of the land thanks to its morphological resources. The inspiration for the project, according to Norihiko Dan, arises from early Christian monasteries in Cappadocia, dug directly into the tufa stone, or the Yaodong dwellings dug into the rock of the Loess Plateau in China: a form of architecture which does not occupy land but stays below the surface, using material that is already present and making the most of its inherent properties.
By night, these aspects disappear and the centre becomes a spectacular sight, Taiwan’s monument to mass tourism. 


The row of pillars on two levels and the wide arches framing the views of the lake and its shores by day are lit up from inside in the evening to underline the powerful, “animal-like” bare concrete structure, a favourite theme in Japanese architecture.

Mara Corradi

Architects: Norihiko Dan, Norihiko Dan and Associates
Design team: Norihiko Dan, Tadashi Yoshimura, Eiji Sawano, Minghsien Wang, Masato Shiihashi
Supervision: Su Mao-Pin architects
Structural Engineer: Structural Design Group (Japan), Horn Gyun Engineering Consultants
Ltd. (Taiwan)
Electrical Engineer: Uichi Inouye Research Institute(Japan), Huan-Chiou Electrical Engineering Co. (Taiwan)
Interior & Landscape: Norihiko Dan and Associates(Japan)
Su Mao-Pin architects(Taiwan)
Client: Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration
Location: No.599, Zhongshan Rd., Yuchi Township, Nantou County 555, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Design period: 2003-2007
Completion: 2013
Structure: Pre-stressed Concrete Structure
Site area: 33,34 sqm
Building area: 6,639.59 sqm
Gross Floor Area: 6,781.21 sqm
Photos: © Anew Chen

http://www.dan-n.co.jp


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