PROMENADE OF ENLIGHTENMENT BY RYAN NGUYEN

The project is an effort to reflect the necessity of Taipei citizens’ religious practice and urban density. This urban Buddhist Monastery is located on the foot of Xiangshan Mountain, facing downtown Taipei city. The building consists of two entrances: one from ground level, which connects to a park and the newly developed housings towers; and one from the roof level, which connects to the infamous Xiangshan hiking trail. The former is the urban access and the later is the mountain access. Consequently, the building acts as a connection between the mountain and the city, suburban and urban, tourism and religious culture; as well as human and nature. The primary concept is to orchestrate a serene and poetic promenade throughout the building so that the users can enjoy the interchanging views between the nature and the city, while reflecting and calming themselves. As a result, a seemlessly unconscious relationship between body, nature and urban is experienced and strenghthened by both the monks and the visitors.

The first architectural concept is the false symmetry. Traditionally, the symmetry of temples is merely a symbol because the people do not experience them as a symmetrical building: as a religious belief, for good luck, people enter the temples from the right and exit to the left. The project takes advantage of this notion to compose a more exciting experience for the visitors. An East-West axis cuts through the site, the spaces, then, are organized in reverse on two sides of this axis: the North side consists more private spaces, such as bedrooms for the monks. Meanwhile, public spaces faces the South side, for instance a vertical public farming garden. The destination of the project is the grand worship space in the middle, overlooking the city of Taipei.

There are four courtyards governing the building: water, fire, earth, and air. They are arranged around the floor area and is visible from cut-outs on each floor plate. As a result, the residue spaces around them house the programs.

-The water courtyards are located at the entrance. It guides the people from outside into the building seamlessly, giving them the opportunity to reflect the city, and highlight the monumentality of the monastery cantilevered grand worship volume.

-The fire courtyard houses the paper-burner whose smoke easily escapes the building without being trapped by the mountain’s geometry.

-The earth courtyard contains the stupas, symbolizing the relationship between ephemeral human spirit with the solidity of earth and rocks. It also leads into a room carved out from the mountain, which houses passed-away- people ashes.

-The air courtyard is the grandest one and is located in the middle of the building. It houses the air that is compressed between the artifice and nature. The mountain slices into the air courtyard and have a dialogue with the visitors. Surrounding the courtyard is a system of vertical fins, which not only shade but also create sockets on each level for the people to have a detached moment for themselves.

Architecturally, the Monastery explores one of the primary elements of Buddhist temples: the column. Not only being used as structural components, they also guide the promenade on the free floor plans, as well as interact with the folded surfaces to create a variety of spatial qualities. The columns’ decorations in traditional temples represent the wealth of the buildings. Here, that notion is represented by de-laminating the columns, showing their multiple layers: copper, wood and concrete. These de-laminations are located strategically at different eye-levels to guide the action of a person relating to each column: walking, sitting, and gazing.