MOST OF THE LIBRARIES IN TAIWAN EARN THE TITLE OF ‘THE LAND OF SILENT’. THEY ARE PLACES WHERE TYPING AND MOUSE-CLICKING SOUNDS COULD DISTURB THE PEOPLE INSIDE. HOWEVER, TAINAN PUBLIC LIBRARY IN YONGKANG DISTRICT DESIGNED BY MECANOO AND MAYU ARCHITECTS SEEMS TO HAVE A MORE FRIENDLY VIBE AND ALLOWS ANYONE TO SPEAK UP AND DISCUSS WITH OTHERS WITHOUT FEELING GUILTY
TEXT: NAPAT CHARTIBUTRA
PHOTO: NAPAT CHARTIBUTRA EXCEPT AS NOTED
(For Thai, press here)
Tainan Public Library is another project by Mecanoo in Taiwan. The Dutch architecture studio works together with MAYU Architects, a local architecture firm chosen to be project’s local architect. The library building is located to the northeast of Tainan, farther from the city center in a district called Yongkang, on the land that was once home to Yongkang Artillery School.
Certainly this isn’t the city’s first public library. Tainan houses a number of community libraries scattered in different parts of the city, 31 of them being university libraries. The merging of Tainan County to Tainan City in December of 2010 had caused Tainan Municipal Library (located near Tainan Public Park) to become insufficient due to the fast-growing city and its population. It led to the inception of the design competition for the new city library that later took place in 2015 hosted by Tainan Municipality Office. Six years later, the new massive public library with over 37,000 square-meters of functional program finally opens its door to welcome everyone.
On paper, the architecture team cited a number of inspirations behind the design, from 1) the protruding roof structure of Tainan’s ancient Confucius Temple to 2) the bamboo forests found throughout the region, which particularly inspires the design of the clustered small columns of the building’s weight bearing attributes. The details of the façade’s pattern are reminiscent of patterns of the ubiquitous window grills found in Taiwan’s shophouses.
Photo: Ethan Lee
The architecture’s superimposed boxy masses gradually expand upward with the main hall blowing up into a triple-volume void, giving visitors an immediate grasp of the space as soon as they step foot inside of the building. The first floor comprises a colossus foyer, a reception counter, an automatically operated book-returning room, newspaper and magazine racks, exhibition spaces and a massive flight of red-colored stairs that seems to have popped out of nowhere. The bright red somehow gives off an energy that encourages people to walk up and explore other floors of the library instead of taking the elevator. The second and third floor house meeting rooms (reservations can be made using library membership), reading zones, and the multimedia library. On the fourth floor, the Tainan Memorial Exhibition, the main library and more reading spaces, workshop rooms, music rooms and art rooms occupy the entire space. The functional program continues on the sixth floor where the multifunctional space is situated. The floor also accommodates a 324-seat screening room, and the rooftop garden. Down to the underground floor is where the children library can be found along with the restaurant and 24-hour co-working space with its own entrance and exit that do not need to be accessed through the main library space.
Tainan Public Library’s open plan layout results in the dispersion of noises throughout the entire functional program. In Taiwan’s context where libraries are considered a land of silence, balancing the liveliness of the space and users’ demand for some peace and quiet while reading is crucial.
Tainan Public Library is built to be more than just a reading room, but a lounging space for people in the community. Tainan’s heat can be unmerciful in summer so it is very common to see people of all ages and genders, sometimes along with their pets, laying out a mat for an afternoon picnic on the vast grass field and playground surrounding the building. The activity flows into the shaded area under the extending eaves and the sunken plaza below the ground level. The semi-outdoor area can be used to host different types of activities from concerts to some badminton before the dynamic energy continues flowing into the library’s main hall. What’s interesting is while writing this piece of article on the second floor of the library, I wasn’t really disturbed by all the noises.
Partially, it must have been because of the Taiwanese culture where people are almost programmed to lower their noises down when entering a library space. Perhaps another equally important reason is how the design locates the reading zones to be on the edge of the four sides of the building’s layout, and the furthest from the main hall. Rows of bookshelves and columns serve as the transitional area that helps filter out the noises. Such an orientation and placement opens the space up to the view of the city without any obstructions, allowing natural light to make its way into the interior space with the shade provided by the protruding masses around the building’s upper floors, which simultaneously keeps the lower floor shielded from the sun.
The clever manipulation of the functional spaces makes Tainan Public Library an ideal space for users to easily spend an extended period of time inside. Nevertheless, the components that contribute to such effortlessness are often overlooked in other projects, such as the distance between the reading area and other facilities such as the restrooms, the outdoor spaces or the café, including the element of natural light in the interior.
The side of the floors facing the south, which is exposed to the afternoon sun, is where the rooms for the system works, restrooms, diaper-changing and breastfeeding rooms as well as the water coolers (almost 100% of Taiwanese people carry their own water bottles), are placed. The bookshelves are put at the center of the program in order for the books to be prevented from sun exposure and fading. The fourth floor, which is the area that is the farthest from the green space surrounding the building, is designed to have terraces on all four corners for people to go out and breathe in some fresh air, take phone calls or have a little snack while taking a break from extended hours of studying or working. On the fourth floor is where the second branch of UBUNTO, an independent bookshop and café, is located. This means that people who prefer the quietness on the fourth floor do not have to ride the elevator to the ground floor if they want to take a little walk, get some air or an afternoon coffee.
Tainan has its own well-established network of libraries. In addition to the cool gimmicks such as the book-returning and sorting machines placed next to the main road outside of libraries, the city also develops a borrowing and returning system, which links different libraries in Tainan together. The system allows users to request the borrowing of a book and have it sent from other branches to a particular branch. Meanwhile, books that are borrowed from other branches can be returned here. Tainan Public Library alone houses over 16,000 books in the Japanese Collection, which includes the publications created during the Japanese invasion of Taiwan, while the English language books and the library’s own collection tally up to over a million books in total.
The interior design sees the use of wood as the principal material with the warm color tone that brings a calming and relaxing mood to the space. The sculpture by Paul Cocksedge where papers are installed to appear frozen in the air, at the center of the main hall, sets the mood and tone for the library, making it feel friendlier and less intimidating. The art works installed at the elevator halls on all the floors welcomes people to touch without the fear of being broken (although there are some of the pieces that are at the risk of getting ruined). Apart from how the chairs at the counters by the curtain walls are a bit too short, the furniture from the chairs, sofas to tables and seating areas are provided with such a great diversity, creating a perfect learning space for people of all ages. It comes to no surprise why ever since it’s opened, Tainan Public Library has been embraced by the locals and become such an integral part of their way of life in no time.
