Timeless architecture is the philosophy of Mecanoo & MAYU’s design for the National Taiwanese Archive: a building that hosts the memory and the collective identity.
The National Archives building is composed of two volumes: one that extends horizontally, forming a large canopy, protecting the ground floor, establishing the relation interior-exterior; the other, a perfect cube, landed on top of the horizontal volume.
Following its clear shape, the building is also organized in two zones: the public and the restrict access areas. The public zone is located in the east part of the site, connected to Wenhuayi road, while the restrict access area is organized on the west part. The cantilevered volume allows the ground floor to be very transparent, creating a strong relationship with its surroundings.
It accommodates the Auditorium, Exhibition Halls and Reading Room as well as the File Exchange Center. The large brise-soleils protects the glazed facades, giving a powerful image allowing transparency to the building.
The volume that accommodates the Archives has a strong presence on the composition of the building and is dedicated to memory and research. The facade of the cube is coated with natural stone and playful aluminium “skin-louvres” that runs throughout the volume.
The skin-louvres building reminds the idea of a precious object. On the top levels, the two floors of offices, the only area with glazed façade, seals the archive building, protecting it metaphorically and functionally.