De-Hostel
The countryside has increasingly been the topic of discussion in recent years. There is an ambiguity of mixed-use structure that often wanders on the edge of regulations. It has brought many chaotic, rough but self-contained miniature spatial patterns. Taking "old" as the origin of the concept, we reorganized the private warehouse buildings in front of the existing wooden structure train station. Our design retains the old structures and explores the disappearing traditional Hakka building typology. The predecessor of De-Hostel was the Grain Bureau. After the third generation of Zhang sisters, it became the first site in Zhutian to provide visitor accommodation.
The new exterior wall retains the old wooden beam structure embedded within holes in the brick wall. The ‘voids’ are arranged in an order that follows the shape of the old roof. Through recreating 51 voids, let the wind, light and plants pass through freely and even become a space for birds to rest. The new building skin is hand-made and expressed through the traditional stone washing method, while the small red stones on the wall feel like rice grains. The shallow pool in the atrium is a visual line and a miniature square. Above the first floor is the accommodation space. Now 51 years later, let the members of the extended family have a place to return to and opportunity to meet again in the architecture.
CREDITS
Design Firm: Studio APL
Design Team: Pei-An Li & Pei-Chen Li & Hui-Chi Chen & Yu-Feng Sung
Structural engineers: Origin Engineering Consultants Corporation
Photography: Yi-Hsien Lee and associates photography
Design Time: 2018/11~2019/06
Construction Time: 2019/06~2021/05
Materials: stone wash finish, grinding stones, fire bricks, volcanic stones, perforated metal mesh, glass, expanded metal mesh
Plants: Taiwan Zelkova, Crepe Jasmine, Red Cypress, Water Jasmine, Seaside Grape, Redflower Loropetalum, Trailing indigo, Climbing Fig, Ceriman
