01 Project Site Selection
For an existing campus which is relatively integrated, the site selection of the additional building is particularly important. After fully understanding the needs of teachers and students for the library, we started to get involved from the site selection, which have to meet the functional requirements and not disrupting the original overall layout. Nanya Middle School has a garden-style campus with beautiful landscape. At the beginning we picked up three locations for the site, the first one was located on the south side of the school's main gate. It is the campus gateway area, surrounded by existing public green space and entrance squares, and the site height difference is large; another one is close to the campus’s core area which is convenient to use, but if so, the existing classrooms may need to be demolished; the last one is close to the Weiming Lake, which is located at the side of the campus site with a good view. This site is far away from the teaching area and close to the student sports field, with high noise interference. Finally, we chose Site One in light of economy, convenience, and time schedule conditions. Therefore, how to resolve the site height difference and reduce the impact of the project on the original environment has become the main challenge of our design.
02 Emerge naturally, Book Mountain with charm
The site is located in the front area of the core landscape of the campus. At the same time, in the overall planning of the campus, it echoes the Weiming Lake in the southwest corner. On the north and south sides of the teaching area, there is an ingenious pattern of landscape and water feature. The construction of the new library is not only the functional extension of the teaching area but also an important part of the core landscape. In order to make the most use of the sloping terrain and site environment and highlight the cultural connotations of the building, the design pides the site into three terraces like cascades. The simple volume stacking and setback are used to conform to the site slope to form the image of a "book mountain" emerging naturally. The arc-shaped outer corridor outside the setback is seamlessly connected with the surrounding hills and steps. The space form restores the sloping terrain of the campus portal and creates a library that seems open but is hidden in the terrain. When the teachers and students pass by again, they will feel a sense of déjà vu with surprise and aftertaste.
03 Flowing Space, Compound Function
The middle school library does not have the building volume of a university library nor the social mission of a public welfare library. Our design goal is to build a compound place that can provide a wider range of activity spaces and create perse connections and communications. The library built follows the terrain increases the accessibility for teachers and students, and is naturally connected with different floors from multiple elevations and paths. Large platforms with deep overhangs are set up outdoors on each floor, forming interesting spaces under the eaves, providing a place for teachers and students to communicate and learn, and differing form the relatively serious and restrained spatial characteristics of the traditional library. In terms of function, in addition to the regular reading rooms and study rooms, there are more undefined open spaces: small ‘tree houses’, large steps, reading pavilions, coffee bars. They are everywhere, full of a romantic atmosphere.
04 Natural Disappearance, Forest Immersion
The design diluted the presence of the building entity through elements such as block stacking, dislocation, and twisting, so that the building is embedded in the hill with a stepped shape, integrated with the landscape and forms a fluid/nonsolid complex that conforms to the terrain of the site. The roof of the library is naturally connected with the original campus road on the top of the slope through the landscape micro-topography design, blurring the boundary between the building and the site, enhancing the fun of building perception and the spatial experience of site roaming. The flowing architecture and landscape break the dullness and boredom of straight lines, as if telling the passing of time. Through the internal courtyard, the double height space for greens to grow, the dislocated openings on the outdoor platform, the roof micro-topography and other different dimensions of landscape design, the vertical and horizontal practical space of the building is organically connected. The existing old and beautiful trees and landscape texture are retained on the lower floor, and the indoor and outdoor of the building complement each other, creating a feeling of walking in an ocean of flowers and being immersed in the forest.
05 Green and low-carbon, passive priority
Buildings built on slopes generally face various problems such as structural retaining wall treatment and poor lighting and ventilation, which we had considered at the beginning of the design.
The southeast side of the building is a sloped hill slightly lower than the roof, which is not conducive to natural ventilation in summer with southeast wind as the dominant wind direction. Inspired by the narrow alleys of traditional buildings, a long ventilation duct is set between the building and the slope and connected to the courtyard in the middle of the building. These ventilation ducts are like vertically crossed "wind tunnels" that can capture wind from all directions and are conducive to the formation of wind pressure ventilation; the two vertical openings on the roof are like two chimneys, which are conducive to the formation of hot pressure ventilation, so the horizontal ventilation ducts and vertical openings turn the building into an instrument that can adjust natural ventilation by itself, greatly improving the original unfavorable ventilation situation. Setting up overhangs at the edge of the setback can not only provide horizontal shading for the interior, but also form a horizontal linear vent, which is conducive to the formation of positive and negative pressure differences on the exterior wall and provides wind pressure ventilation for the interior.
The well sized courtyard on the southeast side of the reading room, as well as the light guides installed on the outdoor platform and roof, bring outdoor light into the reading room more efficiently, so that people can enjoy uniform and comfortable natural light in any corner of the reading room.
The support is separated from the outer wall of the building, and the bottom floor of the building is also partially elevated. The back and bottom of the building are not directly in contact with the soil, which is conducive to the drainage of the slope and avoids water seepage and moisture prevention of the outer wall.
Although this building hidden in the hillside is not large, in just one year, it has opened academic salons, held art exhibitions, concerts, and hosted children's unique joy. One day when the children graduated from the school and recall of this place, it may be becomes the warmest moment in their future memories.