The Architect, The Design, The Architecture: http://www.architectsstudios.com; http://thelondonarchitect.com/ CONCEPT The proposed building is conceived as: "OASIS OF CULTURE AND LEARNING" REPRESENTING THE SPIRIT OF TAIWAN. The idea is to create an "Eastern Gateway to the Park". The conceptual design was shaped by the following factors: Environment: The building's site is part of a very large Park. The proposal sought to integrate the building with the Park and offering visual continuity from the road, Park Avenue 2, through the building into the Park. This had fundamental impact on the form of the building. The conceptual framework for the building arose from its environment. The inspiration for the morphogenesis was the complex variegated leaf in the Park environment and forests of Taiwan. This concept unifies the building and its environment. It integrates the building into the Park and harmonises it with this environment. People: The starting point of the conceptual design is all about people; moving people from outside to inside of the building and back out again, all the time ensuring that they enjoy the experience of spaces and activities on offer. Experience and sense of the space starts from the outside upon arrival near the building. The immediate site surrounding the building is envisaged as leisure and culture interface, where people can enjoy staged private or public group performances of various activities like dance, displays, art or otherwise quiet contemplation. This space becomes meeting place and forms the open external cultural hub. The space experience then moves into the building. The main access is through the Parkland Plaza. This space is conceived as a weather moderated large open space that serves as a meeting and waiting area for people and groups and also where open public performances and exhibitions can be staged. The area is also an extension to the Park itself, drawing it into the building, acting as a conservatory for various plants species. From the plaza, the experience then moves into the library which has its own atrium and Arts Museum which also has its own atrium. The atriums provide a pleasant environment to serve as a social hub, creating light and space for multi-functional activities. Our proposal is modernist and avant-garde. Our approach is to produce practical yet experimental, ecological and experiential spaces and buildings. We get our inspiration from nature. We rationalise and synthesise the complex variegated order found in nature. We look at the environment of our buildings and produce designs which respond to the setting and prevailing culture, in this case, the Gateway Park at Taichung. In addition, the process of architecture creation in the 21st century is in the middle of a technological revolution. We have adapted and integrated these technologies into our design processes by producing buildings that respond to scripts and algorithms as tools of morphogenesis. This parametricism, our preferred approach to morphogenesis, ensures the buildings are ahead of their time.

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