MING SEN SHU

The sun and the moon are the mother of heaven and earth, the wind influences the dance of the forest; between prosperity and tranquility, the construction of life is called a tree.
Mingshen, Linsen, live at once!
Camphor tree, goldenrain tree, Ming Sen Shu ^{Note 1}!

Site location: Taiwan / Kaohsiung City
Design time: 2013 / 08
Completion time: 2016 / 08
Site area: 852m²
Total floor area: 7128m²
Scale of construction: B3F-15F

The site has excellent location in the heart of Kaohsiung City… it is equipped with transportation, schools, business district, large scale park… The most important fact is that it faces directly Kaohsiung’s largest boulevard – Mingsheng Road ^{Note 2}; to its left is Central Park, MRT station and Wufu Datong Business District, and behind it are Sin-Sing Elementary School, Junior High School and Senior High School; the feature of the site is that it is located in a section with both “prosperity and tranquility”. At the beginning of construction planning, we must carry out many repeated dialectics regarding the relation between man, land (location and environment) and architecture to find the maximum dimension of land and space, elaborate the land features, and give the most appropriate interpretation. In this project, the “person” is the known number, and the “designer” and the “user” talk to each other directly regarding their lifestyle and needs, as well as create the most environment friendly design in the hope of achieving consistency and gaining resonance (touch point); this will be the most wonderful link.

The base is north-south-oriented with a 60 meter boulevard, filling every window with greenery so that each space has “a view through an open window” for mastering the east-west sea of trees. The treetops are like paved green spaces that are connected with floors of the space. The building is a duplex plane, and the stairwells are arranged at the rear end, allowing the space to face the first row directly. In addition to being beneficial to consolidated households and open building, ventilation and day lighting is provided for three sides of each space for grasping the best view and window opening angle.

Design of appearance ^{Note 3}
The building makes good use of the north facing front as the main landscape and road system, so there is no shading problem. In addition to meeting the demand for landscape, the large-faced window can reflect the trees on Minsheng Road through the surface of the light glass volume; it is as if greenery is pasted onto the walls, swaying with the fresh breeze, sometimes bright and sometimes dark. Thick double-layered walls are used as the insulation system for the two sides of the building (east-west); added with thick stone material on the surface and light glass at the front, the overall appearance is clear, and the cutting of the façade line is simple and ingenious.

【Note 1】　Ming Sen Shu is the first project applied and approved; The “Reward Program for Balcony of Kaohsiung House” redefined the “Boulevard Green Mansion”, thus the construction of world class Sky Villa. (Kaohsiung is currently the only city in Taiwan to offer this reward)

【Note 2】　The most beautiful and largest boulevard in Kaohsiung is Minsheng Road, of which the trees are mostly camphor trees and Taiwan goldenrain trees; it is like Taipei’s Ren’ai Road, Dunghua S. Road, Dunghua N. Road… Two tree species intersect, forming the humanistic, green and powerful global urban context.

【Note 3】　The expression of appearance must reflect terroir and regional relationship (e.g. recessed windows, large balcony, sun visor… the architectural vocabulary form to achieve the goal of energy saving of green architecture); form is born with functions, from inside out, and consistent on the inside and the outside; cultivate both the inside and the outside to complement each other; integrate the view created naturally; adapt to local conditions and inherence.