TAIWAN NEW FRUIT AND VEGETABLE MARKET WITH FARMED TERRACES
Mvrdv has recently completed the construction of a new fruit and vegetable wholesale market at Tainan, a south-western region on the island of Taiwan. In designing the project, the Dutch studio attempts a procedure of reinventing the typology of wholesale market – traditionally housed in simple metal warehouses – and transforms it into a combination of market and public green space. Therefore, it is also conceived as an important social meeting project, the architecture not only provides an important junction for the country’s food supply chain, but it is also a place where people can meet and appreciate the surrounding landscape from the building’s accessible roof.
The design provides a simple open structure with a corrugated green roof that forms a series of soft hills. At the eastern corner, however, the roof slopes down to ground level through a sequence of farmed terraces, allowing visitors to easily reach the upper part of the building. On one side, a simple four-storey structure hosts the market’s administrative offices and an exhibition centre where it is possible to show the regional agricultural products.
Under the roof, therefore, the market space is simple but highly functional. The structure is open on all sides, and the building’s high, corrugated ceilings make possible an important natural ventilation effect, which in combination with the thermoregulatory effect of the earth and the plants on the roof makes the project passive in terms of energy.
Source: Domusweb.it Photo © Shephotoerd
