Pingtung City Pingtung County Library

This facility is a compelling artwork in which something old has gone through a magical metamorphosis to emerge as an award-winning something new. Standing within a landscaped 5ha park amidst tall trees in abundance, it has been dubbed “Taiwan’s first forest library.” It’s located about four blocks north/ northeast of Shengli New Village.

The renovation-and-expansion project had a strong eco-conscious focus. It was decided not to knock down the aging original on-site structure, a cultural center opened in 1983. This eliminated demolition waste and maximized carbon reduction by avoiding much all-new work and materials, while preserving a heritage asset and saving the modest-budget county government much money.

The new library opened in 2021. The spacious high-ceilinged new lobby is an extension from the old structure. Walls of floor-to-ceiling glass face directly into camphor forest on the building’s west side, keeping the interior cool. This space resembles a stylish art gallery rather than a staid traditional-style library zone, and also has a café.

Roomy outdoor reading-area platforms on the second and third levels allow people to leisurely appreciate the aesthetics of the forest at different levels, while the trees generate cooling breezes.

Another inviting feature is a genuine traditional-style slate house built by Paiwan-tribe craftsmen. Dating to the cultural center, it had fallen into disrepair and been closed off. Now rejuvenated and warmed with shell ginger, millet, and other Paiwan-icon adornments, it does double-duty as a section for indigenous peoples’ literature, and as the portal area leading from the third to fourth level.

repurposed include the preparation pond and the wastewater sedimentation tank. The texture of the tank wall’s rusted surface contrasts well with the aesthetics of the stylish new modern-design elements. The tiering of the preparation pond gives the rippling shallow-pond waters the look of a gently cascading waterfall. The complex is bathed in ethereal landscape lighting as each evening settles in, the mood of the setting heightened by the watery reflection of nature-made heavens and man-made architecture.

Elsewhere, an expansive kids’ play area has also been created (all-new materials/facilities) that celebrates such important Pingtung agricultural products as lemons, red beans, and onions; for example, youngsters climb up into a super-sized onion-shaped dome to take their pick of bright-colored slides to race down. PINGTUNG