issue 1
beitou public library, not just library taiwan, ny botanic garden
The Beitou Library
Words: Patricia Mou
Location: Beitou, Taiwan
Rating: 27/30
As I emerge from the subway, the fragrance of sulfur and chlorophyll envelope my senses. With just a few steps, I leave behind the concrete station and enter a verdant park shrouded by billowing willows and maples.
Chaotic tree canopies melt into neatly zoned walkways, trimmed hedges, and winding streams below. Grandpas stoop intently over a chess game, parents peacefully watch zigzagging children, and grandmas sway their limbs in unison with the trees.
1 hour by rail from the heart of Taipei’s packed urban landscape, Beitou is a needed respite for citizens of the populous capital. Known for its open-air hot springs and its world-renowned library, it’s quite frankly, one of the most beautiful places I’ve stepped foot into.
This afternoon, I was eager to check out the library. As I made my way through the park, a wooden structure emerged, barely peeking from the tree groves. Around the two-storey building, a wooden patio snaked around nesting couples taking in idyllic koi ponds below.
People come here to pause from their day or drop into a mental rabbit hole.
The building seems to break the mental narrative, yet harmoniously continue its narrative with the physical world.
It is a structure that is more interesting for what is not stated.
“An attempt to build a library that can breathe."
Having come from an environment where man’s dominion over nature was deliberately architected, this was a soothing backpedaling.
Beitou Public Library was a part of the natural landscape, not upon it.
I soon learned that Beitou Public Library was also Taiwan's first green library designed by Bio-Architecture Formosana to curb water and electricity consumption.
Here are some aspects of that inten:
Wood material. the library is built out of wood instead of concrete as every wood substitute — including cement and steel — requires far more energy to produce than lumber. Even the woods used during the construction were from managed forests rather than primary rainforests.
Windows. The building uses large windows to reduce the consumption of lighting electricity. With well-designed openings, the library itself can be naturally lit and cooled without consuming much energy.
The roof. The roof was designed to be partially covered with photovoltaic cells to generate electricity and also designed to capture rain water to be stored and used to flush toilets as well is water the library’s plants.
The balcony is also eco-friendly. Its vertical design conserves energy by reducing the amount of heat-causing rays allowed to enter the rooms
The paint. Eco-friendly paint was also used, to reduce the amount of toxins released into the environment.
As I headed home that day, it became clear to me that Beitou Public library was not just a place to check out books and study.
Though the tangible structure definitely leaves a mental imprint, it is the principles it represents that linger on the mind.
A philosophical meditation.
Indeed, when is art ever about art? The building ever about the building? The materials used and skills applied?
No, it’s the philosophy and ideologies it imbues. To live on in the human psyche, far after structure turns to rubble, rubble to dust.
The Third Space Rating
Scent - 3
Depending on whether you like the smell of sulfur, the scent is omnipresent throughout Beitou, though muted within the confines of the library
Vibes - 5
Beitou feels like a treehouse immersed in a grove of vernal maples. The vibes are very one with nature, which lends to one feeling similarly. From the wooden structure of the building, to the book between your hands, everything feels fertile and organic.
Textures - 4
Light undulates between wood and glass. Angular in places, rounded out in others, beitou feels perfectly asymmetric - much like nature.
Lighting - 5
Shifted away from direct lighting and nestled below trees, the lighting is perfectly ambient and diffused.
Noise - 5
It's silent within the walls of the library. However, once you step out into the patio you’ll be doused in a light aquatic landscape from the sleepy stream below.
Inclusivity - 5
Being only 2 floors, the building felt consumable as opposed to overwhelming, with ample railing and seating.
Total rating: 27/30
Not Just Library
Words: Jess Chang
Location: Taipei, Taiwan
Rating: 27/30
I take off my Nikes and carefully slip on a pair of fashionable black Birkenstock clones provided by Not Just Library.
As Taiwan is heavily influenced by Japanese culture, it would be disrespectful to walk in with your shoes, and is a sign of cleanliness to change into sandals inside, and into a different pair at the genkan before the garden.
Embedded in the Taiwan Design Museum, the architecture of Not Just Library feels ephemeral and fragile—a library designed just for artists, designers, and craftsmen.
Clearly influenced by Japanese architecture, the site is divided into three areas - a simple and sober reading area that leads directly into an outdoor area, and a hidden study where light generously pours from the garden.
In the middle of the study sits a literal bathtub, preserved from the 80 year old public bathhouse that the space one was. According to the architect, the bathtub symbolizes a “vessel of knowledge”.
The perimeter of the reading area is surrounded by design magazines—the Architectural Review, Kinfolk, Casa, and Cereal, to name a few. Walking a few steps down, one enters the "BookBath", a reading area carved into the ground that resembles something like a conversation pit.
I felt like the space was designed just for me. After spending half an hour searching for the perfect magazine, I melt into it in a corner tatami chair.
According to the library's architect, the space is meant for creatives to “bathe in knowledge through the company of books, sunlight, plants and scents.”
The library also serves as a venue for design-related exhibitions and talks, hence the name, "Not Just Library".
Scent- 4
Vibes- 5 (Almost every artist in town is here for the vibes).
Textures- 3 (A poetic dichotomy of cement and wood.)
Lighting- 5 (The light pools in generously from the seamless divide between outside and inside.)
Noise- 4 (Occasional whispers, camera clicks, and magazine flips. Jazz hop music fills the room.)
Inclusivity & Accessibility- 2
Total: 23 / 30
New York Botanic Garden
Words: Inga Chen
Location: Bronx, New York
Rating: 28/30
I visited the New York Botanical Garden on a random Wednesday during a light rain. In just a few short hours walking the expansive grounds, I felt transported out of New York City and into a peaceful, beautiful wonderland. This year, Yayoi Kusama has graced the gardens with her outdoor sculptures that added a flair of whimsy to a lush backdrop.
The botanical garden is a full sensory experience. The subtle, sweet scent of flowers evolved as I walked from garden to garden. Entering the Thain Family Forest is where I felt as if I were far away from the city. The fresh smell of damp earth and the light pitter patter of rain on the canopy above was calming and healing for my soul. Nature said, quietly, there is no rush. My gait kept apace with the steady rain.
Emerging from the forest, I happened upon the lilac garden, with dozens of varieties I've never seen before. The sweet aroma of lilacs was so intense I could smell it through my face mask, yet nature has a way of ensuring balance: something humans strive for, but often escapes us in our quest for more. The lilacs' aroma were delicately pervasive, instead of cloying like a cheap perfume.
I was stuck in a trance watching the raindrops hug the petals of the Japanese tree peony.
Nearby, the Japanese maple trees look meticulously maintained with long branches that grace the floor. Playfulness is in the air thanks to Kusama. These Japanese maples seem like little grass monsters, ready to scurry into the forest any minute now.
The magic of New York Botanical Garden is that it inspires and gives everyone permission to play. It invites curiosity with its vast, comprehensive collections of plants and flowers. And then, Kusama’s sculptures push people out of their comfort zone by being bold, larger-than-life creations of wild imagination.
I couldn’t help but marvel at the size and form of these sculptures. What did it take to dream these up and create them out of thin air? In standing under the Dancing Pumpkin, a dynamic interpretation of a pumpkin with octopus-like arms, it's hard not to be jolted out of conventional ways of thinking.
New York Botanical Garden is one of those places you can visit again and again. You'll find comfort in the familiarity and delight in the new. The grounds are always there, but depending upon the year and season, there are new plants, new flowers blooming, something new to learn, and new art to marvel at. This year alone, there were cherry blossoms in March and April, lilacs in May, roses in the summer and Yayoi Kusama's sculptures all throughout spring into fall.
NYBG delightfully breaks the home-to-work-and-back-again shuttle. Urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term, "the third place" and says, "The character of a third place is determined most of all by its regular clientele and is marked by a playful mood, which contrasts with people's more serious involvement in other spheres. Most needed are those 'third places' which lend a public balance to the increased privatization of home life.” NYBG is the quintessential third place.
The Third Space Rating
Scent - 5
Vibes - 4
Textures - 5
Lighting - 4
Noise - 5
Inclusivity & Accessibility - 5
Total rating: 28/30