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DESIGN DEVELOPMENT | S11
with Lauren Thomsen
The TEK (Technology + Exhibition + Knowledge) building by BIG proposes to challenge the typical organizational hierarchy present in a mixed use program using a boolean relationship between a spiral tube inscribed within a cube as formal inspiration. The area of the spiral tube is cut from the cube, and the difference is the enclosed envelope of the building. The negative space created by the spiral serves as an exterior vertical plaza, allowing public access and creating aleatory conditions at all elevations of the building, and finally culminating as a park on the top level. The spiral void also serves as circulation for the building’s interior program, which is extremely diverse. The programmatic functions are organized not according to elevation, but are instead designed to maximize the spaces remaining in the booleaned cube. The dramatic juxtaposition of public and private, and exterior and interior space is furthered by the facade assembly, the transparency of which blurs the relationship between each element, and heightens awareness of the contrasting conditions.
The project consolidates the hypothetical contents of an entire city block into the program, proposing to extend the streetscape vertically. Interior program typologies include hotel, retail, office and conference, gallery, showroom and exhibition spaces, and restaurant spaces. Exterior program typologies include public plaza, inclined promenade, amphitheater, and rooftop green space. The TEK building is located in a dense urban context, adjacent to an existing pedestrian street in Taipei, Taiwan.
Rather than adhere blindly to formal constraints of symmetry and repetition existing in a true spiral and cube, the design proposes to modify the spiral tube to create more efficient spaces within the building. Interior program will no longer be subordinate to the formal consequences of the spiral void. Instead, the program and the form of the building will have a symbiotic relationship; the void will be modified according to programmatic needs.
The building negotiates the relationship between three major elements - volume (program) void, (circulation), and skin (enclosure system). The volume of the building is comprised of multiple programs each which demands a different scale, form, and publicity level. The void serves as the main communicating element between disparate programmatic volumes, it exists only in relation to them, and at times it becomes part of them. It adds anticipation and interest to the project, drawing people in and up through the building. It interacts with the programs by creating adjacent spaces that are neither program nor void. These spaces slow the transaction between the two elements and encourage people to simply appreciate and enjoy the space. The facade and envelope condition of the building unifies all of the elements and the void within a single volume and provides the project with clarity and coherence. The facade moves to the interior of the building, following the void and defining interior and exterior spaces within the building to create some very interesting conditions.
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