Su’ao is an urban township by the sea in Yilan County, Taiwan, and famous for its fresh sea products and the nearby harbor. This project was begun with a new technology, CAS (Cells Alive System) introduced by our client, TSC Anyong biotechnology and was hoping to build a tourism factory in Su’ao, rely on its geological advantage. The idea is to emphasize the interaction between the factory and customer, and optimize the relation between factory and the surrounding environment.

Our architectural design approach is to allow the building blends into environment like how chameleon change its skin coloration based on temperature, light intensity, physical condition, and many other reasons. Therefore, we created geometrically perforated metal panel systems in three green colors and numerous sizes of holes rearranged into a large piece of exterior skin around the overall steel frame structure. Also, by pushing one side of the metal screen towards center and with rhombus structure frame on the back, each panel system looks like stacking up on top of another. By doing so, these panel systems offer different types of astonishing feature and expression on the skin surface according to seasonal variations and changes of weather.

The factory produced various fishery products, mainly frozen fish in CAS technology (quick freezing) method, fish processed goods such as fish balls and fish oil. Most of these products will deliver to local markets and restaurants outside the factory. Moreover, we also provide our own market and restaurants in the building, so the market will be selling our processed goods, and many of the restaurants dishes are made from our products as well. The waste and residue from fishery production will be recycled to the green house on the upper floor to grow vegetable, and our vegetable will be returned to the market and restaurants to serve as one of our production.

We have Processing I and Processing II on the first and second floor, central kitchen on the basement, and green house on the third floor. By arranged each main functioning space intricately, we allow to have the production processes go all the way from the basement to the top floor, and our visitors can directly view how their purchase is been made. Unlike traditional factory, we broke down conventional layout, relocate and place each processing area separately but improve its circulation with other program, and most important is our visitor will be able to interact with each program simultaneously.

After placing the factory’s program, the negative space becomes a large public space for visitor to interact with each processing area. The visitor will immediately attract by the sunlight penetration through the high ceiling at the top with enormous rhombus structure skylight when they enter the space. The great amounts of sunlight with mimicked garden lighting in the wide open lobby area bring the whole space an outdoor atmosphere. While the visitors experience the public space floor by floor, the bridges located on each floors and the escalators intricately throughout whole space performs and indicates the idea of factory production complexity. In addition, the mix match combinations of monochrome flooring tiles and wooden wall panels’ arrangement correspond to the “texture” from the environment and the exterior façade.

Apart from the self-sufficiency between factory production and markets consumption, enhance sustainable development was one of the big idea. We aim to build a self-sufficient community in this building by growing its own food, produce its own energy, and turn its waste system to a loop regenerative system. By installing solar panel system and rainwater collection in traditional way, we decided to integrate them into one piece of structure on the rooftop. Therefore, we hold up the solar panel system off the ground instead of just attach them on the surface, and installed the rainwater collection system on the back side of the solar panel system. Therefore, under the solar panel system become an interesting space, and visitor will be able to tour around the rooftop and see how this building functions environmental friendly.