Library Buildings around the World

Taiwan
Bio Architecture Formosano, Taipei – Taiwan
http://www.bioarch.com.tw
Libraries:
Beitou Branch Library, Taipei – Taiwan 2006
In Taipei City's Beitou Park (台北市北投公園), there is a brand new public facility that is being hailed as Taiwan's greenest
building. The Beitou Branch of Taipei Public Library (台北市立圖書館北投分館), which formally opened in November 2006, is the
first building in Taiwan to qualify for a diamond rating—the highest possible—under the government's EEWH certification system
(EEWH, 綠建築指標) for sustainable construction projects. Green buildings like the library aim to minimize harm to the
environment through the use of recycled or renewable materials, and by being energy and water efficient. Taiwan's government was
the first in Asia, and the fourth in the world, to adopt a set of sustainable building standards. The EEWH system—so called because
it focuses on Ecology, Energy saving, Waste reduction and Health—is roughly equivalent to LEED (Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design Green Building Rating System) in the United States, and CASBEE (Comprehensive Assessment System for
Building Environmental Efficiency) in Japan. The library's wooden walls hark back to Japan's occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945),
during which period thousands of buildings were constructed of timber felled from the island's forests. Its shape, however, and the
vast amount of window area for its size, make it very different in appearance to Beitou's few surviving Japanese-era bungalows.
The use of wood is significant. If taken from managed forests rather than primary or rain forests, it is a far greener material than
concrete. Cement takes a great deal of energy to extract, heat, mix and refine. Also, the extraction of gravel for use as a concrete
aggregate has damaged many of Taiwan's rivers and hillsides. Ying-chao Kuo (郭英釗), one of the architects who worked on the
project, explains that the timber for Beitou Library was sourced from North America. It could not be obtained from anywhere
nearer because logging has been effectively banned in Taiwan, and forests in Southeast Asia are not managed in a sustainable
manner. Taiwan's hot, humid climate and insect population can be brutal for wooden structures. But rather than treat the materials
with strong chemicals that might later contaminate the environment, wood oils were used to protect the timber from rotting and
infestation, says Kuo, one of the partners of the Taipei-based firm Bio Architecture Formosana (九典建築師事務所), the designers of
the library. The library's large windows help cut electricity use in two ways. An abundance of natural light means less interior
lighting is needed. Also, the windows can be opened to provide ventilation, so reducing the need for fans and air-conditioning.
One part of the roof is covered by photovoltaic (PV) cells that are expected to convert sunlight into at least US$1,000 worth of
electricity per year. Another part is covered by a 20-centimeter-thick layer of soil that provides thermal insulation. During Taipei's
chilly winters, the soil cuts heat loss through the ceiling and thereby makes the interior cozier. In the summertime, the foliage blocks
some of the warmth of the sun. Some plants take root and thrive on the roof, improving air quality in the immediate area. However,
says Kuo, it is not a rooftop garden, and so requires neither watering nor maintenance. The library conserves water by capturing
rainfall. The sloping roof gathers rainwater, which is then stored and used to flush the library's toilets. Easy access to public
transportation, which inevitably reduces car use and carbon dioxide emissions, is not part of the EEWH assessment system, though it
may be added in the future. In any case, Beitou Library does superbly in this respect. It is six minutes' walk from Xinbeitou MRT
Station, and at least 14 city bus routes stop within three minutes of the entrance. However, things are not made especially easy for
cyclists. There are no racks for chaining or locking bikes. According to Kuo, this is because the library lies within a park, and Taipei
City Government by-laws stipulate that bikes are not allowed inside parks. During the design phase, Bio Architecture Formosana
did manage to obtain an exemption from another law, that requiring all public buildings to have car parking spaces. The Beitou
building is not Taipei’s only green library. The Shihpai Branch of Taipei Public Library (台北市立圖書館石牌分館), another Bio
Architecture Formosana design, was opened to the public in late 2006. From within and without, Shihpai Library looks much more
like a conventional building than its counterpart in Beitou. Kuo explains that this is because it was designed much earlier than the
Beitou building, and also because it needed to have a lot more floor space—6,740 square meters (including a nursery), compared to
1,990 square meters—while occupying a much smaller plot of land. Nonetheless, the architects were able to incorporate several green
features, including a roof shaped like a billowing sheet that captures rainwater; a corner cooled by winds from three directions;
water-efficient bathrooms; a forecourt paved with water-permissible bricks; and a rooftop garden. Various government bodies are
helping to promote sustainable building in Taiwan. Taipei City Government (台北市政府), which commissioned the Beitou and
Shihpai libraries, was, Kuo says, "a very nice client." The Ministry of Economic Affairs' Water Resources Agency (經濟部水利署)
encourages the capturing of rainwater. The state-run Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電公司) is obliged to buy surplus
electricity generated by PV systems. The Ministry of the Interior's Architecture and Building Research Institute (內政部建築研究所)
is responsible for a six-year-long, NT$1.8-billion Green Building Promotion Program (GBPP). "The program includes mandatory
green building design for new governmental buildings, green remodeling and green HVAC [Heating, Ventilation, Air-Conditioning]
projects for existing governmental buildings, research and development for recycling building materials, promotion of green
building materials, training and education for architects and professionals, as well as other promotion activities for the public," says
Chiung-yu Chiu (邱瓊玉), a research fellow at ABRI. The GBPP stipulates that government-backed projects worth NT$50m or
more, and projects receiving government subsidies that account for 50 percent or more of their total budget, need to pass four of the
nine indicators that comprise the EEWH rating system. The nine indicators are: foliage; water soil content (infiltration and
retention); energy savings (for lighting and HVAC); carbon dioxide emissions reduction; construction waste reduction; water
conservation; garbage and sewage improvements; biodiversity; and indoor environmental quality. The not-for-profit Taiwan Green
Building Council (TGBC) (台灣綠建築發展協會), established in January 2005, is also promoting EEWH. The TGBC brings together
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