The Big Roof Whare Ahi by Chuan-Chih Chang, Joe Lin and Yeling Chen is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Rino in Hoahoa Waihanga, Whare me te Hanganga Competition Category.
RinoWaihanga· 2023
The Big Roof Whare Ahi
by Chuan-Chih Chang, Joe Lin and Yeling Chen
Client: KeeLung City Govenrment
A' Design Award Rino Winner in Waihanga Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #144154The Design
About The Big Roof Whare Ahi
Ko te Tuanui Nui he whare ahi kei Keelung, Taiwan, he tāone maunga, ua nui hoki. Ko te hoahoanga e whakaū ana i te momo whare maunga o te rohe, nā reira ka kitea te whare he tohu rangi ā, ka whakauru tonu ki roto i te whenua. Ka hangaia e tētahi tuanui rererangi nui tētahi papa hōu ki runga i te mata maunga. Ko nga poutiaki me nga wāhi tuwhera e hanga ana i nga wāhi whakaruru i waenganui i te whenua me te whare. Ka whakaraeitia e ēnei wāhi te hōhonu, ka whakaiti i te rā tōtika i te raumati, ā, ka whakaaetia te hau māori kia rere. Ko tētahi ara ātaahua kei te taha o te whare ahi e ārahi ana ki te papa rēhia me nga whenua o tawhio noa.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award Rino
Ko The Big Roof Whare Ahi te toa o te A' Design Award Rino, he whakaaetanga whai mana e hoatu ana ki ngā hoahoa pai e whakatutuki ana i ngā hiahia ngaio me te ahumahi e tūmanakohia ana mai i ngā mahi kua hoahoatia pai. Ko ngā toa Rino e whakaatu ana i te pukenga nui, te tohungatanga teitei, te māramatanga mātanga me te kaha auaha o ō rātou kaihanga. E tūmanakohia ana ko The Big Roof Whare Ahi he mahi whakanuia, whakamīharotia, aroha nui, he whaihua, he auaha hoki. Ko tēnei hoahoa i toa i te Rino e whakakotahi ana i ngā tikanga pai rawa o te ahumahi, ā, he āhuatanga hangarau pūkenga tōna e hono ana ki te mōhio me te pūmanawa. E whakahonoretia ana a The Big Roof Whare Ahi mō tōna tōtika, ā, i hoahoatia hei whakapai ake i te kounga o te oranga me te āwhina i te ao kia pai ake.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Fire station is a landmark and yet still blending into the environment. The project is located at Keelung, Taiwan, a mountainous and rainy city. It is crucial to design the interface of the urban context and the building which connects visual guidance and natural shades for rain or sun. People can take the scenic path right by the fire station to access the park, the east bridge, the natural landscape. It is a statement of the fire station being part of local residents' lives.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Floors: 4F / Site Area: 1780 m2 / Floor Print Area: 780 m2 / Total Floor Area: 2045 m2 / Height: 14.45 m / Construction Fee: 3,000,000 euro
- Tags
- big roof, fire station, architecture, taiwan
- Production Technology
- Because of the local humid weather and limited budget, the fire station itself is expected to be easy to construct and maintain. The excavation strategy for mountain soil is very economy efficient, and use raw concrete formboard and self-compacting concrete for main structure and exterior walls. Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, so we avoid to use stone panel or tiles, to prevent its damaging caused by earthquakes. Mineral painting on the big slope roof top also helps as the waterproofed layer.
- Design Challenge
- The most difficult challenge of this project is the local mountain terrain and the project is located on a 45degree slope terrain. We need to think about how to construct at a steep terrain and also how to pour concrete when the local weather is often humid all year long. Therefore, during the design process, architects highly participate at the pre-construction meetings and also discuss with contractors about construction methods that helps to complete the project under limited budget.
- Research
- For architectures like police and fire stations, are usually designed as a majestic building in image or form wise in Asian societies. Taiwan government also tries to re-connect people and public institutions to improve public services. So during design process, architects try to design these public institutions based on regionalism and avoid the majestic image. So the design concept is to adapt “mountain house” style at this area and into our main building elements to the landscape and climate.
- Inspiration
- The concept is to adapt an indigenous building style “mountain house” in Taiwan, which have taken into the main building elements to the landscape and climate. The big sloping roof is a new layer of the mountain skin. The balconies and openings form unique space in-between the landscape and building and also create additional depth in in the summer to avoid sunlight but still allows natural ventilation, it also allow people doing multiple activities doing in and out the new mountain skin.
- Project Duration
- The project started in March 2017, and finished in March, 2021, located in Keelung city, Taiwan.
- Operation Flow
- At Asia cities that are similar to Taiwan’s, firefighters usually need to cover double amount of citizen’s safety than western countries. So when designing a fire station, architects not only need to design an efficient office, but also a good living residence. Because we believe with good living spaces, it can benefit both life and work quality. For this project, various balconies and openings allow great views from indoor to outdoor which offer great work and live spaces for firefighters.
- Patents
- For copyrights: Yen Partnership Architects + BBC Architects
- Team Members
- Yen Partnership Architects: Joe Lin, Yenling Chen
BBC Architects: ChuanChih Chang - Image Credits
- photo: OS Studio
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