Based on the outdoor plaza of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), Program X-site organizes annually an open call for projects and, through various cutting-edge issues and cross-disciplinary proposals of temporary installations of our times, expects to design an integral experiment of dialogue among museum, public plaza and audience. The project, Blue House, entitled after the interdisciplinary team’s name, distinguished itself from the 20 proposals as the 9th X-site laureate in 2022.
Through the single and unique theme of blue, Blue House provides a filter of perception, with an aim to transcend language, vocabulary, and architectural rationality, so as to unfold a profoundly poetic chapter about vastness, tranquility, mystery, romance, or melancholy; about starry vault, ocean, universe, or technology. The architectural body itself is constructed by timber structures, by which the detailed symbols of different abstract significances are created. Hyper-scale structure, curved floor and sloping roof–all fabricate a particular urban crevice and bodily experience, where a multiplicity of spatial and bodily perceptions, by the public activities during the exhibition period, will be gradually triggered and brought into our consciousness.
Text/ Wei Chieh Kung
With a shorter wavelength mixed in the spectrum between 450 and 495 nanometers, blue does not seem to be such an incomprehensible or unimaginable color in the perception through human eyes. In fact, it is one of the rarest colors in nature. Blue carries multiple significances–vastness, emptiness, infiniteness, even sacred passion; at the same time, it embodies both melancholy and a power of consolation. Blue goes beyond languages, demonstrating more profound dialogues. We attempt to look for the complex relationship with blue, in terms of both physical space and spiritual dimension, which has been gradually cast into oblivion.
Departing from a multi-layered observation and radiating imagination as interwoven constellations, Blue House employs a pure architectural language to realize a multi-reading experience of space. To transcend the single-purpose form of architecture, it attempts to establish a space of universality and diversity, two qualities seemingly contradictory, but not mutually exclusive in reality. The work seeks to explore some sort of empathy among all lives, to shape more tangible and intangible interactions among human beings, and to initiate an individual aura for diversity and intimacy, so that the wholeness and multiplicity of space can coexist. Furthermore, it encourages not only more harmony of consciousness and perception, but a free attitude toward the world to challenge the new order of the times, and meanwhile, to observe, respect and cherish the environment where we live.
The rectangular plane, 18m x 11m, and its southeast corner situated 12m away from the edge of TFAM’s outerwall, 5° intersection corner. The body spans over two flights of stairs, with two sides, one pentagonal and the other triangular. The house is deformed again and again, with every step back and forth, while the vague impressions are quickly fading away. Above the floor is situated the sloping roof truss of Scotch pine, 120mm x 150mm, 30°, with the heights from the ground varying from 4.7m to 3.1m, and that of the eaves, merely 1.3m at most, from which rain drops fall into the boundary in the twinkling of an eye. Between the eaves and undulated floor is left a gap, like an accident, extending upwards to the plaza’s horizon. Bend down the knees and lean forwards–a few scattered, blurred figures project a reflection. Along the wall, enter the house through the oval arch with the toes slightly inclined forwards, reaching the pavement of Dahurian larch, 45mm x 191mm, jointed and screwed: the imagination is curved as such with the curved floor. In the space in transformation with familiar but strange shapes, the irregular structural objects of Oregon pine run through the interior where the strut, light and shadow from plane to plane draw, in a gentle and gracious manner, a new boundary.
Realistic or fictional, the narrative of Blue House shuttles between memory and imagination. In between, we can imagine it as something omnipresent, for it could take us to any imaginable space, not only physically but consciously. In every move back and forth, a transformation will take place from object to object, from scene to scene: it might be surrounding a huge campfire with some strangers, or floating in the ocean of consciousness, in the very bottom of our heart.
Blue House could be home. Blue House could also be weigh, compromise, paper folding, marble soda, rib bone, rain drop, cave, page number, or fishing.
Team Profile
The X-site project brings together various souls in Blue House where different disciplines and forms of creation and research are conducted, such as architecture, structure, art, tectonics, planning, theory, painting and social practices. The members cultivate diverse understandings of architecture, mutually attractive and paradoxically heterogeneous, from which fascinating logic and lifestyle may thus be generated out of the give-and-take, speculation, chaos and balance.
Design Team｜Blue House
Project Lead｜Wei Chieh Kung, Lydia Ya Chu Chang
Designer｜Ken Chia Chang, Jia Ying Chiu, Chun Hung, Bérénice Martin, Wei Ke Cheng, Kai Chi Huang, Ming Han Lee, Yuan Fu Chiou, Pao Leng Kung, Hao Wen Lin
Visual｜Chih Yi Wu
Documentary
Director｜Yu Ro Huang, Blue House
Original Music｜Yun Fang Tseng
Production｜Jia Yi Wei, Weir Der Cherng
Construction
Timber Construction｜Te Feng Lumber Co., Ltd
Structure｜AS.studio Engineering Consultant, Kuan Fan Chen, Pei Lun Wu
On-site Construction | Tien Tai Civil Engineering Construction, Sheng Long Wood Industry
Lighting｜Nine Cloud Division
Paint｜Luban Paint Co., Ltd.
Construction Volunteer｜Chen Pang Chang, Yi Chi Kao, Ling Wei Chen, Ting An Lu, Shi Wei, Pin Zhen Chen, Yun Rou Li, Huahua Lin, Yi Syuan Lin
Special Thanks/enterprise｜Dembolt Enterprise Co.,Ltd., Winsing Art Foundation
Special Thanks/person｜Yu Tzu Chao, Mei Feng Chang Liu, Hsin Chen Chiang, Kou Yen Chang, Tsui Ying Lin, Kumay, Hui Wen Yang, Chen Hao Chang, Yu Ting Liu, De Ren Kung
Visiting reminder
- The number of visitors is limited to 30, and please cooperate with the staff in the venue and follow the visiting instructions for entrance.
- It is recommended to wear smart casual, for the movements like body stretches and sitting on the ground will be required in experiencing the work and during the sessions.
- According to the preparation of the sessions, Blue House will be closed for an hour before and after each session (flexible adjustments depend on the announcement in the venue) and please feel free to rearrange your visiting schedule.
- To respect the epidemic precautionary measures for a pleasant visit, please wear a mask and maintain social distancing while entering the venue.