The design for the Kaohsiung Cruise Terminal by Emergent is interior driven, biasing building section, and interior spatial effects. The goal is to create a cavernous space which will appear simultaneously massive and lightweight. The project oscillates between volume and surface, avoiding the limitations of exclusively surface-based and volume-based architectures.
The Port Services Center, made up of string of hard elliptical volumes, is pushed down into the soft bubble of the Ferry Terminal, so that exterior skin becomes interiorized. This nesting action allows for functional division between the programmatic elements while creating complex interior formations. While the Ferry Terminal is oriented towards the inside, the Port Services Center– consisting primarily of offices– is oriented towards the outside, with views out to the city and the ocean. It is a building within a building. The skin of the Ferry terminal is constructed out of transparent ETFE membrane and hard fiber-composite Armor Plates. These Armor Plates operate as both structure and ornament. They create stiff zones in the skin where the membrane can be affixed. Ultimately, the construction system is a hybrid of shell and membrane construction types– what we now call Shell-branes. Read the rest of this entry »