Not Just Library / JC Architecture + Motif Planning & Design

Curated by 韩双羽 - HAN Shuangyu

Architects: JC ArchitectureLandscape Architects: Motif Planning & Design
Area: 436 m²
Year: 2020
Photographs:Kuomin Lee, Taiwan Design Research Institute

Text description provided by the architects. This is not just a library, not just a 83-year-old bathhouse monument, not just a cultural venue. Down the corridor, with lights filling upwards and incoming scent of books, one can let go of the chaotic outdoors and enjoy being bathed in spirits and knowledge.

Taking the inspiration from a drop bathhouse, pick up a book from the bookshelf made of stacked birch plywood, sink it in. The plywood reveals a gentle light that accompanies people like a book bath, immerse them in invisible thoughts. Words recording speeches, speeches shaping the communication between the inspiration and creativity between inner hearts and mind. Here, it doesn’t just serve the purpose of personal gatherings, the possibilities are indefinite, from concerts, lectures, extension stages, transforming the concept of an original bathhouse into an experimental showcase of literature.

Following down the stairways, uncovers the half-a-century old bath house that was for female employers at a tobacco factory, where they used to wash off the tobaccos sticking to their bodies. The vintage tiles on the wall, mottled with the years, retain the traces of past life, adorned with golden details to present the beauty of wabi-sabi; respect the imperfections and architectural limitations of historic buildings without adding more steel bars and screws. The sun shines on the ventilated patio and the suspended steel cable woven arc lighting reflects each other, blooming downward, illuminating the modern thoughts, time and years. The preserved arc bath and the modern book pool present a combination of the new and the old, the space. To continuously pass down the timelessness of the history.

The inner space of the garden has a private and tranquil atmosphere. The texture of time is imprinted on the surrounding walls, letting go of superfluous expressions, and anti avant garde materials that urge people to consciously let go of superfluous things.

The branches and leaves spreading upward, up to four meters high, spreading out a touch of light in between, and the sun shone and shone among the translucent green leaves of the treetop. The mixed plants are juxtaposed and blended with the historical wall.

Different levels of greenery are set against the ash of the gravel. In this simple and harmonious space, light, shadow and form all show graceful temperament. At night, when the trees and flowers are illuminated by floor lamps, the garden seems to be immersed in a mysterious and silent world, quietly revealing the history.

It is with hope that words are seen as mist and knowledge is seen as water, to represent the spirit of bathing: thoughts, considerations and self-growth of gratitude to be transformed into the cultural heritage and radiate outward.