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Architects: Metrics Architecture Studio
- Area: 86 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Yu-Chen Chao
Text description provided by the architects. Initially, this was a project about functionality and efficiency, an entry pavilion for a mental hospital located in southern Taiwan. It serves as a gate entry which can transform into a fever screening station during the pandemic. Instead of building a linear wall, we created a boundary with a layer of spaces, which serves as a transition between the hospital campus and the external highway, also creates a series of collective spaces which has the potential for multi-functional use which also kept the building’s gesture more welcoming than a wall with a guard post.
It is composed of L-shaped walls that follow an order based on the position of the sun, the trees, and the relationship between the different functions, a bus stop, coffee stand, and different resting areas, which also trigger discussions about the flexibility of how buildings could be used during/after times of the pandemic.
The walls form fluid spaces and more closure ones at the same time by their different sides, using raw exposed concrete as the main material emphasizes the perception of nature such as the light and shadows, the breeze and falling rain..etc for the users. Its open plan is composed of designed-geometry elements of walls, patch-like spaces, and linear elements merging into the surrounding landscape blurring the feeling of inside and outside bringing nature to become a part of the building.
The pavilion becomes a vessel for creativity, art and nature, its diversity of spaces encourages users to find a space that suits their physical and psychological comfort based on their needs which also creates opportunities for patients and doctors to engage in a more relaxing atmosphere.