Living Laboratory

Abstract

One enters the building from the dense city areas to the lawn and begins the transition into the protected botanic garden in the middle of the forest farm. It is a place abstracted from the world of traffic, noise, pollutions and density of the city area - an urban space within which to observe, sit, to walk, to enjoy with various natural elements like flowers, trees, and in addition, the additionally attracted insects and animals. All these will bring about unexpected encounter with nature into the space. The carefully chosen botanic products does not only provide precious samples for the production of knowledge and scientific development, but also produce an array of species, colors, seasonal blossoms, fragrances and textures which consume the general public’s corporeal senses. There are two roles of the building in the urban context – the proposed botanic garden. The first one is a gateway transiting from the man-made cityscape to the planned landscape. The opening – the gateway locating at the center of the building redirects contemplation towards the botanic world. The elongated homogeneous façade does not only direct one’s view towards the opening on the axis, but also erased the sensual connections between 2 sides of the landscape at the first impression to enhance a contrasting experience with the hidden garden behind. The second one is mainly achieved and realized on the other side of the building. The botanic garden is regarded as a natural carpet of an enjoyable atmosphere and the proposed architecture is a sloping platform – a mount where the public can climb up for an overview of the whole landscape and the planned garden layers. The botanic garden becomes the stage and the building as the theater seating. From the urban setting to the position of the building and finally to the materialization of the design, the idea of bring up a utopian vision of living is stitching up the stories boards – An living laboratory which produces knowledge as well as evolves with natural elements through time. There are schedule of accommodations and special requirements for the operation of a laboratory. The programs proposed and the related technical configurations provide a clue for design development, e.g. With its dual quality of form the construction of louvers of sun screening for lab offices can also be regarded as a stepping seating for the garden views. The timber louvers enclosed the whole architecture as an installation on the landscape. Timber is chosen as the main construction material in the hope of seeking a close connection with the nature. Components are assembled in a way to accommodate programs with various spatial qualities.