 Hello everyone, Columbia GCSEB is pleased to have David and 2002 MR graduates offer an introduction on the front of JJP architects and planners with an in-depth looks and recently complete giant group global headquarters for which he serve as project architects. The presentation will range from commission to construction exploring how architecture design help giants realize a new cataculture and cycling museum beating their status as the world's leading manufacturer of high-quality bicycles. David Lee is an associate and director of international affairs at JJP architects and planners. The firm was founded 40 years ago by the Josh Jipan, the founder of AIA 1967 MR graduates recipients of Taiwan's national award for arts in 2015 and the benefit of a new scholarship on GCSEB. Welcome him. Okay, good evening everybody. It's early in Taiwan, but good evening New York. I'm very happy that you guys can all join us. So the time is short, so I will go ahead and jump right into the presentation. So once again, David Lee and Mark 2002, and it's been almost 20 years as tells you how old I am, but I'm very happy to have this opportunity sort of return to the school virtually and to share a little bit about the firm I'm currently working at and also the project that recently completed. Okay, so a little bit about the firm JJP in the beginning. So this is sort of put us on the map and also put Taiwan on the map. So most of you are probably here in New York, where the yellow marker is, and I'm in JJP and where I am currently is this on this halfway across the globe on the island of Taiwan. And for those of you who haven't been to Taiwan, this is sort of a the two magazine covers here. The one on the left is a Japanese magazine and it shows a typical street scene in Taiwan. So you can see that Taiwan is a very interesting and lively place. And on the right, you see this cover recent cover on from the Economist magazine that says Taiwan is a very is the most dangerous place on earth. That's probably mostly due to some sometimes bad relations with our very fearsome neighbor China. So sometimes Taiwan is caught between the US and China this power struggle. But in this diagram, it looks like some of the diagrams that you probably do in school is actually the latest current weather map shows a typhoon approaching Taiwan. I think today is actually the is one is supposed to make a landfall in Taiwan. So I guess at least for a day, Taiwan is probably one of the most dangerous places on earth. So on a good day, you know, with no typhoon, this is what a Taipei kind of looks like. The skyline is dominated by what was once the world's tallest tower, Taipei 101, named so because of the 101 floors in the building. So if you do, I think some of you might be very curious about like what is Taiwanese architecture. That's a very interesting question. And if you could look up just type those as a keyword in Google, this is what you get. So it is a very heavy mix of traditional Chinese influence. Sprinkle some modern icons. So in this kind of background, JJP architects and planners has been we've been around for 40 years to this year is actually our 40th anniversary. It's founded by Josh G Pan. And now you know where the letters come from JJP. He's also a graduate of GSEP 67 M mark. He has very distinguished career and both winning the National Award of Arts in Taiwan and also named the fellow of the AIA. So we have close to about 300 colleagues now. We've won numerous awards and then completed over 700 projects in Taiwan overseas. So it's one of the largest firms in Taiwan. So we have a very diverse portfolio. And then our core values are based on the Confucius saying, which roughly traces that as respect and natural principles, and you have properly utilized technologies and materials, and you have to display empathy towards mankind. And once you've done all three, then you can totally enjoy your freedom and design. So this is a big family photo that was taken recently. So it's as you can see, it's a very and this is right outside of our offices. So it's several townhouses hidden in the residential alleyway. And for those of you who've worked here or visited us, you'll be very surprised that, you know, one of the largest architectural firms in Taiwan is actually hidden in this kind of setting. So this photo only shows about half of our employees, 150 or 60 people or so, based in the Taiwan office. So how the firm has grown, especially, and in a very kind of organic, if you're looking at this short GIF animation here, so it started as one townhouses, then we sort of, you know, gradually expanded left words, right words, upwards, and then even across the alley. So now this is sort of exploded that spatial diagram of the current firm right now. So I think we have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, seven townhouses. And then, but you know, but the townhouses there is kind of similar to the townhouses that you see in Manhattan, and Brooklyn, so these railroad configurations, and then somebody's packed with a lot of people. So, you know, it's very tight, very cozy work environment, but not good for COVID, obviously. So half of the people, including myself, were working from home now. So that's the Taipei office, but we also have offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shaman, and we also have a sister company that specializes in interior design, and another sister company that does structural engineering. So obviously to sustain such a large operations, we do a very wide range of projects, and because of the reputation built up over the years, we actually obtaining work is actually relatively not so difficult for us, because most of our clients are repeat clients, or referrals, but we do also actively seek out new projects. And then we actually have built all across the globe throughout Asia, and even quite a few projects in the US. I think the closest one being in New York is a church in Rutgers, New Jersey. So we take a very non-traditional approach to very challenging building typologies. So this is one of the world's largest semiconductor fabrication plants by TSMC. So it's a big box typology, but then we put a lot of emphasis on making the building more humanistic and also a lot more sustainable. So you can see these green walls and extensive landscaping around the fabrication plant, and this is actually a logistic center, a big warehouse. It's located right next to the high speed rail tracks, so we try to give a very dynamic composition to an otherwise very static volume. And this is a university library designed by JGP about 30 years ago, and then contrast that with the public library that we did about 10 years ago. So it's the same typology, but very different in form and materials. And this is a gymnasium right outside of Taipei on the mountain, Yamingshan. It's also for university. So here we're exploring this theme of expressing the structures. You can see these big trusses through the glass that holds up the gymnasium. And then you see this new bank headquarters building that's currently under construction in the heart of Taipei. So it's the same theme trying to express the structure. And then we also did the Red Dot Museum in Shaman, which was converted from an old aircraft hangar. And then we also did this pop-up installation, so pavilion, at a lantern festival. So it was only up for about a month, and then all the materials have been disassembled and recycled. So throughout its 40 years of history, the firm has always maintained a very international outlook. So and we've very diligent in about publishing our works. So we've had four monographs from 1999 to the most recent, which is about three years ago. And the text is all in Mandarin, Chinese, and English from the very beginning. So for those of you who are interested, I think you can certainly look it up. I think probably all four are still available online. Okay, so that's a little bit about the firm. Now we go into the project. So for a giant group on Global Headquarters. So I'm not sure how many of you have heard of Giant Bicycles. Some of you probably not, but some of you probably have even written a Giant Bicycle. So it is one of the, it is the world's largest bicycle manufacturer. And then it's also one of the leading brands actually. And so they do a wide range of bicycles from road bikes to mountain bikes. And they're also a pioneer in carbon fiber technology, very sleek, very fancy looking bikes that go very fast. So and it's it's almost and throughout, actually it's approaching us for 40 years also for Giant. And then it has started out like many Taiwanese manufacturers. It started out as OEM and basically making bikes for other brands such as Specialized. But now it's become, it's also developed one of its own brand Giant. So and then and then that's becoming one of the actually most valuable brands in Taiwan. So it's currently ranked number six. And then, but it's previous headquarters is the building shown about six story building on the right and right next to their adjacent factory. This was completed in 1984. So I think back then it was already sort of impressive, but there was no real effort trying to convey more positive corporate image. So when we got the task, that was became immediately became one of the biggest challenges. And if you contrast the location of their previous headquarters, the one shown in satellite image on the left, it's actually located in the middle of the fields in a very, it's almost like very rural area. But contrast that to the new site they selected for the new headquarters, the one on the right, which is right in the middle of a science park in Taiwan. So Taiwan has throughout the island, they have several of these major science parks. And these parks are established to sort of attract all the high tech manufacturers to locate their facilities here. So the one, the TSMC plant that I showed is actually diagonally across from the giant headquarters. So just this move of, you know, out from a very rural context into and right next to being neighbors with all these leading technology, high tech manufacturers of Taiwan, as it really shows their ambition of giant trying to become an equal footing with all these other much bigger companies. So and the site itself also presented some very difficult challenges. First of all, it's a very narrow site. And then there's a big steep slope to the west. So the actually the available width of the site is only about 55 meters. And it's about three times as long, about 155 meters long. But there's also located right at a major thoroughfare. And there's a big stormwater conduits outside of site. So the access to the site becomes an issue. And also to the north is actually this golf course, which you think it has very good views, but the best views actually towards the downtown Taichung, where the city where the site is located is actually to the south. And then we also have to integrate these pedestrian and also bicycle paths, how in terms of the access to the site. So, you know, and then looking at the larger context of the site within the science park, you can see the golf course, and then also surrounded actually by these big fabrication plants, such as TSMC that makes chips. And a lot of them are probably in your iPhones, the chips are made by TSMC. And then you also across the street, you have an AUO that makes all these display panels. So you think like all these, you know, electronic products. And then what is a bicycle manufacturer, you know, doing in the middle of this. And so in terms of like sheer size, you can see there's no way that that giant can compete with all of these. But there's one commonality to all these projects. They're all actually all designed by JJP. So that just shows you like the dominant role that the firm has played throughout the in the high tech industry. So like all the TSMC and a AUU plants are designed by JAP. And actually, when the giant project was constructing the TSMC plant right on the top of the hill was actually also being constructed. So it's very interesting that to see like, you know, it's hard. I think it's hard to not very often you see instance where all the surrounding buildings actually are designed by the same firm over and such different different approaches and different typologies. So, you know, it's very different. Obviously, working with the clients is TSMC who is very strict on protocols. And they're also very, very scheduled demanding because all the media is production deadlines. So and whereas versus giant air culture is a little more laid back just as demanding but more laid back. And throughout the process, we're constantly reminded by the giant people that, you know, it takes, you know, like TSMC can sell one chip, but they have to probably have to sell 10 bicycles to make the same amount of money. So so budget was actually also a very big concern for them. So this is again, looking at the context, you have these big box, big boxes. So our challenge is to how to you, how to stand out in the sea of these big volumes. So, and the, the, at the current manuscript quarters, there was the biggest feature was this a big water tower. So that sort of acts as the icon of the. So then when we got the design brief, the biggest challenge was, okay, how do we create a new icon for giant? And then how can the architecture become a more active role in doing that? So we went back to this is the founder of giant group. And he's also since retired, but he had a quote. He once told us that walking is too slow and driving is too fast, but cycling is just right. So the speed. So we took it as the speed, like he's very big believer in cycling. And then the speed of writing a bicycle. So we kind of want to capture that in our design. And also how, you know, most often when you go ride a bike is usually in tandem or with a friend or a partner. So like how these, maybe there could be more than one volume to satisfy the program requirements. Because there was a program they wanted an office, but they also wanted a cycling museum as part of their headquarters, new headquarters. So this is in the competition stage. There was, I think, three or four firms invited to a competition. So in the competition phase, we did two schemes. One was a little more directed linear, but still very sculpted dynamic composition of the towers and the big base. And the second scheme that we presented was a more curved linear with a very fluid base and a more striking tower. And obviously, being from Columbia, I think you can all guess like which firm, which scheme that I favor most. But I think in the end, we're very happy that the collected that the client selected us and then the scheme moving forward. So once we got the project, it was really to say how do we give the form to do, which was, you know, how to take that scheme and move it forward. So again, going back to their logo, which again, I was also trying to convey the sense of motion. So we sort of take that and then trying to really integrate that into some of the forms that the sculpt the building and also through a process of, you know, trying out with models. Obviously, we use a lot of 3D skills, but I think the model still gives, especially when I became clear that the programs would, the best solution will be to separate the programs, the museum to the left, and also the tower that houses all the office and research facilities. So all the models are 3D printed. So gradually through a process, I think over a year, the form of the building began to being finalized. And then throughout, and then it was also in the process of designing that we realized the facade, the Eastern facade that actually faces the city, that the outline, the silhouette of it actually sort of resembles the shape of the island, Taiwan. So that sort of, for us, it was a very pleasant surprise that, you know, this sort of giant, the world's leading bicycle manufacturer, actually, conveyed a notion that it's actually the pride of Taiwan. And then through these forms that actually they were trying to create this motion, this sense of notion like of moving upwards that brings you visually and through that this facade that faces the Southwest actually becomes very important. And then this is a completed project and looking at the project located between the two big TSMC facilities also designed by JTP again. So it's a very dynamic composition that stands out from these big boxes. And then we really try to push the building to the height in terms of the height limits to make it more stand out. Okay, so that's sort of the background of the project. In terms of some basic facts, so it's about the total floor is about 33,000 square meters. The HQ is 15 stories and two floors of basement and the museum of three stories also connected by a common share, common basement. The design phase took about a year and a half and the construction was again another three years completed in 2019 and after the 19. So this is the site plan as you're going to see is we're trying to trying to fit all the program and into a very tight site. So I'll try to but with that but I think the in terms of the site layout, the key is to how do we besides positioning these two buildings, how do we the space between them actually becomes a very important. It's almost like the third element to the composition. There's looking at an area photo. So and then how in terms of the paving which they wanted to be more open to in order to have events in the future and how to create a sense of movement that brings in people from the outside so we have and then from and so there's a fourth and there's a fourth floor rooftop that's for their employees right outside of the cafeteria and but the middle ground the middle Plaza is really where the heart for us is the heart of the project that's where all the people come together and then it's leading up to the big set of stairs to the museum and also these ramps that takes you up to the headquarters podium. So this is again looking for so the museum obviously is in the foreground so it does not require a lot of windows so that gave us the opportunity to really sculpt it in a way that that's very pristine and very clean clad in aluminum panels and on the south facade we actually did the logo which I'll talk about a little later and then the office building in in contrast obviously needs a lot more openness so we have this language where these savage covers are articulated carefully to create a sense of movement and quick in section so you can see section the big open volume as soon as you enter the museum and also a two-story lobby in the office with a grand set of stairs leading up to the auditorium and then this form that gradually tapers up as the the tower goes up and in terms of we also paid a lot of attention to sustainability and really trying and the biggest one of the biggest moves we made was to have these deep balconies at the south side for shading and then we try to integrate as much as natural ventilation as possible so all the skylights actually can open up and then and also in terms of encouraging people to use less of the elevators and really to walk around the buildings we put in a lot of stairs to encourage people to do so and then so again back to these balconies on the south side there's early studies we knew like the south side afforded the best views but also most urgent in terms of shading the need for shading so we created these deep balconies that allow people on every floor on the office floor to actually go out for a break and then also provide the shading for the building so here you can see that we placed the core the server's core to this west side which effectively blocks out all the western sun and then on the balcony on the south side to support these balconies because of the overhang you actually need a deeper structure so actually that naturally led to the design solution where the slab covers on the south side are much deeper then as you and you go to the north side where the light is more even the the need for shading becomes less so so the slab cover can go go down to a much narrower profile so just this is just this simple move actually led to a very this sense of rhythm movement up and around the building so this is the building looking from the museum looking from the top so again we're treating the roof as almost like the fifth facade that's also very carefully designed with a very slit as a skylight and then here you see the two buildings from the street level so this tower the striking form that appears as you round the intersection so some of the design challenges I'll quickly go through a project so just because of this project the unique shape of the project and also the budget concerns so we were actually spent a lot of time like trying to even in the bidding phase trying to explain that although it looks complicated at first glance but most of the facade is actually flat and the only the biggest with the exception of the southwest southeast corner where the balconies are though those are the areas with the deepest overhang and the most curvature in the panels so again looking at this area which is section cut through so so in the end we were able to through an optimization of design that actually although the building looks very fluid dynamic actually 91% of the panels the aluminum panels are actually flat and on the the most complicated form of the overhang which is a double curved which I think all of you use a lot probably in your design so those only constitute about 3% of the actual panels so when the contractors when they bid for a project they know that it's actually not they won't price it all that double curved is actually more the flat curve the more typical kind and then we actually show them exactly how much of a curvature these panels have so that can provide more accurate bid same process was also carried out on the museum building where the biggest curvatures occur at the corners again showing a percentage of the flat versus the curved panels and then through the I think this was even done in minor that you can actually put a gradient in terms of the curvature on map it onto the buildings actually quite clear show you the portions in red has the biggest amount of curvatures so we did and also that we actually come convert that to showing how the structural support underneath under the angles of this and the hot the amount of angle variations the supports need to have and then we also have engaged a consultant that specialized in these geometry optimization that were so a lot of the curvature lines that we actually were able to be broken down into straight lines so there's more of a segmented curve without losing the overall effect and then and we actually this was even in the design stage we work with a manufacturer just just trying to see the limits of the aluminum like how far can the manufacturing capabilities are and then did the material itself how much of a curvature can actually withstand so it's a very rudimentary markup then followed by once the project was awarded there was a on site there was a very extensive visual markup that sort of actually incorporated almost all of the conditions that you will see on the building so one to one scale and then and then we followed carry the same process even throughout the manufacturing we actually made several visits to the manufacturing plants you know this this is the flat panel on the museum it's six meters tall each panel a meter and a 1.2 meters wide so that's really pushing the envelope of the manufacturing because the equipment is such a large size it becomes a very challenging issue both in terms of forming the panels and also painting the panels and then we also look at the conditions where the panels are curved and then not only from the front but also from the back you know looking at how the supports can be placed so all that effort is really just to make sure that in the end when these panels are installed on site no matter their location no matter their curvature actually will actually look the way that we want it to look so because the the aluminum that's because that would actually make or break the the over the overall effect of the building so again it's a close-up looking at the roof of the the museum so every single joint every single line is actually designed by us and then through this extensive process of verification in the shop and also on site that we were able to achieve these results so those of you who have some practical experience will surely know that you know it's although it's much easier to design a curved building now but it's actually a lot more hard hard difficult challenging when you actually should try to put to realize it so we actually spent a lot of time going obsessing over the details so like we can see here and then we also and even in terms of the glass that you know as you approach it we will when when when people are on the sequence of entering the museum they walk along this big glass wall that you can actually look inside the museum to get a glimpse in that museum you actually enter and but we we didn't want to be just a regular wall you know so glass wall we actually had this idea of tilting the glass and actually the amount of tilt actually varies as you approach the entrance so it goes very far more like almost like 60 degree angle and back to a 90 degree angle when you arrive at the doors so this is we did a scenario in the computer and then in but then the challenge becomes okay you know we're not going to do curved glass so how do we but we still have very much a regular curtain wall stick system so how do we allow for these different panels to be accommodated within the same system so actually to allow a much more a much larger pocket so to speak in the more liens to accommodate this shift in the glass and both vertically and horizontally and then even the structural design for the project these all the engineers actually did followed our lead and did extensive you know sort of really really pushing the boundaries of what Taiwan the construction industry has been so on from from the from a rhino skin to a tech class structural model and then even all the embeds were also done in a model there in rhino and so every phase of the structure actually being flattened out for analysis and also the contractor required a contractor to based on our design to actually produce a BIM model to integrate the structure and on the MEP work and then invariably in the process of doing so there'll be a lot of conflicts so you know I personally went down to Taichung almost every week for a period about a year and a half on these site meetings and most of time was just trying to resolve all these coordination issues so if you learn a lot in that during that time period and also so some of them some of the issues can be resolved by modifying design and some of them is really just as a contractor has to sort of modify their means and methods of because our core principles always we want to maintain the the look of the building there's no compromise there but anything underneath that we can discuss the best way moving forward and then also the MEP work was also carefully modeled in the BIM model with all these different color codes for the different pipes so the building would not only look neat and clean from the outside but actually inside all the conduits are actually have a very strict organization to them so even with all the advancements in the computer a lot of the detailing still also we explore using hand drawn we have a very technical a very capable technical team in the office so they actually we actually drew up a lot of these and then from that the contractor would do the shop drawings for verification and then in the mock-up so we would again in the mock-up we would simulate all these different situations and so that's also so we would pay regular visits with Mr. Pan and also the clients there's me down in the photo with the founder and the current CEO of the company so it's trying to really explain the in and outs of the design and then this is another detail showing how the glass curtain wall the mullions attached to the structure the main structure so it's a steel structure building so it's very it's always fascinating to see steel work going up especially when a lot of the connections are very non-standard and they were so the steel was selected for the towers and then a concrete shell structure was selected for the museum but that because of the constructability and also the waterproofing qualities of the concrete so that's the main reason why it was selected but because of this big opening skyline opening here there's a lot of worries about how it might settle so there are actually a lot of monitoring extensive monitoring was done both during construction and even post construction we keep monitoring it and right and a lot of it is because it's from a structural engineering point of view is actually really exceeded what the limits of the the software can you know simulate so we actually so there's a big lesson valuable lesson for all parties involved and in terms of concrete it's always very it's always this suspense because once you really don't know what it'll look like you know you see the formwork being going up and the concrete being poured but it's only when the formwork comes up that you actually see the building so in terms of scaffolding I think the the contractor did a very good job because in this in the museum building even in some of the columns are actually followed the exterior so they have this angle column so now so how the round column connects to a beam and the slab so that becomes a very critical detail so here you can see the two buildings going up and then this is looking up at the skylight in the top floor of the museum so you can see it's about almost 100 feet about 30 meter wide long opening so it's very visually stunning but I think when it first when it first we're taking dismantling the formwork you know a lot of people was very very worried actually but again again very very happy that excited pulling it off so this is this various stages of the construction you know building going up scaffolding coming down and then finally revealed what the final project looks like so it's big big sigh of relief everybody like oh it actually turns out very similar to what we're okay so quickly going through the exterior again the emphasis on the the middle plaza as the heart of the campus and to really create this sort of campus here you can see we had to somehow overcome the challenge of bringing people in to the plaza but then across from the stormwater conduits so we had this idea of coming up with the bridge we will come over talk about later so this is the plaza formed by the two buildings very smooth curve that sort of embraces the plaza and then this is what we've envisioned during the design stage that would be the hub of activities and this is actually the rendering of the the completion of it so it looks very especially looks very similar you know they actually had had several events there already so and they're quite happy with the result and again it's very open to uh bicyclists you can actually ride all the way in from the sidewalk onto the plaza which is very fitting for obviously for bike company high quarters uh some of the uh details through the sections a section details through the both the bicycle ramps and the balconies the balconies here you can see one of the interesting thing is um you know we actually tilted the um the glass railing in the same angle as the uh as the element panels because we didn't want that sense of rhythm to be broke interrupted by these vertical glass rails so we tilted the railings as well so here you can see i think the this is the ramps is still vertical configuration but as you move up the building the glass starts to tilt as well so it's very careful coordination between the structure the and the exterior wall work that i was able to achieve this result you're looking at all the ramps so again so we wanted to really through this series of ramps to sort of in to bring people you know down into the plaza and also up the building and these ramps could also become areas where people can sort of stand and watch all the activity that's going on in the plaza and also um you know the ramps we designed them uh at a one to 12 slope so it's from me me to handicap code but obviously for liability reasons we don't really encourage you to ride on them but you know being you know by company all the employees are very good writers so they are you see people constantly zipping up and down the ramps and then third floor at you know created very spacious and very open bike storage room it's probably one of the nicest bike storage rooms you'll ever see and then you know see people riding on the streets and then there's a big great difference between the side and the sidewalk so to overcome that we actually came up with this idea of having a bridge that will cross over the conduits onto the sidewalk ramps so again the whole design started from hand sketches computer money and then it really in the shop that it is all these z-shaped bent steel plates trying to to really achieve a very smooth finish that would fit in with the architecture and how the bridges that span across that naturally opens up onto the plaza and then work in conjunction with the paving so this is looking up from the building so this whole assembly becomes whole and then also a lot effort was put into the lighting design of the project so the lighting design is always very tricky because you know I personally I don't think the current software does a very good job of modeling that so we actually especially in terms of we want to do this logo on the on the museum without doing a traditional hangout like a big light box so we actually want to integrate with the panels so we came up with the idea of doing an app perforation that's big perforation so three types of three types of openings that but so the mix of that was actually become very important and the client was had some reservations like will people be really be able to read the logo and then on top of that we want light to sort of come through shine from the back so we actually did a markup to one of the panels we brought to her office we did our own lighting check outside of office right in alley and also in the shop you know just trying to get the lighting level just right after all the light comes from actually underneath shining up so how to keep achieve an even illumination and how it visually stands out so this is the final so I think you know it looks oh we're very happy with the result that the combination of these three diameters how they perform you know together achieve a very legible reading of the logo and then at night you know it also achieves what you can still be very visible at night and then also all the access panels with the lighting fixtures are below so and you know we when we went when the building was first completed the you know they had this line underneath and everybody thought it was intentional I was like oh kind of nice you guys sort of underlined our underline oh no that's not what we're going we didn't want that line so we're trying to figure out why is there a line why is light coming through that that's but so you know for the longest time we couldn't figure it out I think we could just mistaken design or fabricate it turns out like the the caulking they used the one of the workers they did they caulked the transparent caulking so that's what the light was coming through so once we substituted that with the black the black kind the non-transparent kind the problem was solved so that shows you even the best design intention sometimes you know goes a little bit wrong in the field but you know well fortunately it was very easy to correct and also the logo kind of looks like it we did a little mock-up a lot of twitter but that's only part of the logo actually that so again you know playing with the coverage of the amount and the size of these led bulbs to achieve because the client wanted the the logo to read as blue under the corporate color in at night but in in during the day and but at night want this to to illuminate as white to to to have the greatest effect so you know how so all that testing was to achieve the proper result the interior again very open plan we put all the core to one side very open spaces flexible with the big um atrium opening on in the lobby and again you can see this is a typical office floor with so once you step inside the atrium we we didn't do the interior design but we work closely with the interior designer to make sure that the um the same language architectural language is consistent um that carried into the inside and then we actually determined the the architects we decided the shape of the stair because but we actually because we actually did the the structure what the work was done with so we dictated this angular very strong presence in the otherwise very curvilinear space so this is the effect so and then the interior design also did a very good job of cladding that the stair integrated with lighting and then this is the on the third floor out second floor outside the auditorium so this is one of the areas where you can really see the inside and outside effects working beautifully together with the light and shadow a different shot and when you're in the inside you can really see the ramps circling around the building and then every so often you can see a rider coming down the ramps which is a very very unique effect again just looking at the plaza this is now going into the museum a big open lobby again we didn't do the interior of the museum but we made sure that whoever did it had to follow this spatial concept that we had which is a very storing atrium once you're into the museum and then the display on the inside that's very interesting actually all about cycling culture so it's not just about giant it's really about the history of bicycle how cycling works and then even some of their you know latest technology and you can even do a sort of virtual ride over toward the front on these machines and then this workshop that we always we suggested to the client to be open to the outside so people can look in and the house and sort of get their hands on and see people trying their hands on trying to fit the bike again this is the another rendering it's actually a real effect of looking up at the skylight from the top floor of the museum which is a currently cafe and then in closing so I just want this to sort of take you one last round through the project again this is the most most often shot taken of the project so sort of the the balcony is the that that connects the two buildings in the walkway that how they naturally frames in the view of the the tower and when and how you're underneath on the plaza that it provides shading but also through the light and play of shadow it's actually a very dynamic space and but we also enliven it with a tree uh the tree pit and then you have to have this done by following the visually your eyes follow the ramp naturally up the building and then also how the ramps the the space between the ramps and the building and becomes very interesting as you walk around it's about probably 10 feet wide and you know how how you sense the building kind of wraps around you and then you work your way up probably your view is constantly shifting and then this is composition both at day and night I think in the end the client was very happy that it really gave him you know a new identity and very striking and also captured the essence of their their corporation and the choice of aluminum panels proved to be the right choice uh and with their they didn't know that you know aluminum is a material they're very familiar with because a lot of their bicycle frames are made of aluminum but then really take it on an architectural level to express the same sense of motion I think they were quite surprised by that so um you know this is a night of view of the project so um and then because it's a museum uh so we're actually very welcome to visitors so whenever you come to I want to please pay a visit and then indeed the a lot of these souvenirs actually were not designed by us but we thought it was kind of that they took the architectural language and sort of translated into stationaries and it did this was a more abstract interpretation of the museum and the tower then turned into stationary very very clever I thought and then it's also been featured in Mercedes karma car commercials so it's I think a lot at least for me but I think for a lot of architects it's always imagine all one of your projects could become the background for these car commercials because they usually tend to stick you know select some very visually interesting and dynamic buildings as their backgrounds so we're very happy that Mercedes selected this but I think the best projects are the is a type that you know that you can not only admire it as an architectural piece but you can actually turn it into a cake and eat it so so this was for Mr Pan's 80th birthday which was two weeks ago so we had this building or at a cake maker make up a cake out of the form of the building and then he was and then we actually just the challenge the biggest challenge was actually how to cut the cake so in the end was cut in the planar fashion so that would not destroy the form of the cake and then so that's it about the building and the firm so we've actually had so for those of you who want to know more about the firm you're always welcome to go to our website www.jjpan.com it's an English version and those who want to know more about the philosophy of the firm and also about joshua you can there's actually a we recorded a podcast episode that's right on the gs gsep website absolute number 94 and that was us a dialogue between joshua and johnny um you know who's currently the gs gsep alumni associate president taiwan so um again thank you for listening and then i'll be happy to take uh any questions okay thank you david thank you for your amazing presentation and for introduction for jay peace and for now we're starting from the activity sections and i've seen like the uh uh the one do you have the questions do you want to ask the questions since i have technical issues or maybe i just start from yes first and just uh quick question that like since jjp is one of the large firms in taiwan just how does like gs spirit is benefit for you and like mr panji for like design your a deep love your design running your companies and like building your revolutions and identify yourself even from other international firms just as a taiwan architect okay okay because of the virtue of our our our size being the one the largest in taiwan we always felt that you know we should play a more uh leading role try and really try because taiwan is um it's a still sort of kind of an insular country that we we're very we're good we're very good at a lot of things but we really don't tend to make them more visible to the the rest of the world so um so what so if you see um not only ourselves but for a client like giant you know they've already achieved a very uh high levels um you know status in terms of in the in the biking world but not many people know about them so um so when a client like this approaches us so we become very interested in trying to give um form to their aspirations because it's awesome it's really uh like a building like headquarters really about like you know in many ways it's branding not just for the client itself but also for the architects for the designer so um we try to do it in the language as you can see that's very contemporary but it also conveys the essence of the client and also what we believe in really just to have the sort of the form really um derived from the function and but at the same time trying to aspire to a higher level of meaning so I think as being the largest firm we get up we get more opportunities like this to sort of um you know work with our clients to take it to a to a higher level so um but the downside of it obviously is we don't have a lot of opportunities to do very small more like unique projects I would say because um I know a lot of the architects in Taiwan they're very much into the localized context and the local trying to express more of the local culture we try to do that as well but we a lot of the times the sizes of our projects would not allow and allow us to do that so instead more more often we actually choose to actually engage the outside world more you know on the international level both through our design and also like activities like this that we actually try to sort of play a role like making people more aware of Taiwan and Taiwanese architects in general sort of to help um the society or the the industry as large yeah so since there's no continuing conscience so I just continue my questions just like yeah I think it's important like rather rise awareness of like Taiwanese architecture and like promote your company and to try to do things trying to benefit for a 2JP in Taiwan and uh just like you have mentioned like joint group they want to and the five themselves are branding for Indonesia as well and then you show like the Mercedes-Benz commercial in the end and kind of reminds me that like the Mercedes-Benz museum yes you have a similarity in like a design language and like a fancy design shapes just like yeah I I have created a likely design but quite important like people from like Europe or from you know East they show different from like the US design for your firm's design yeah okay so we are just very interested because um the client unfortunately we didn't get the chance but they actually visited a lot of these museums car museums in in in Europe including the Mercedes the Porsche so they actually so they are so when we came up with this sort of architectural design they're actually very used to that they've seen it before so that there was a very it was very easy to reach a comfort level so in the beginning we were kind of worried because a lot of Taiwanese companies they're still more very much traditional thinking they would think oh you know this is a little bit too too too out there for me you know but as you can see we the amount of the craftsmanship so the challenge was us was not really in terms of the design but the challenge was really how to do this design not in Germany but actually in Taiwan and with with with the budget constraint I'm not sure how much they spent on the on the museum in Germany but we but this one is actually very it's actually aligned with the typical box boxy curtain wall building the in terms of the box so to achieve this kind of result and then and the construction uh technology in Taiwan is obviously not as advanced as in Germany so there's a lot of like you can see a good trial and error right every step of the process we kind of have to push the contractor and the subcontractor say okay you have we have to do this mock-up you kind of have to test it out before we know that it can actually work because once you're installed it's really you know it's very hard to take it off of the building so we like so we we we were we didn't really have the confidence in the construction industry in Taiwan that actually can deliver uh this kind of result so the form that is that that's also a big reason why you know not only to save on the budget but also we try not to go too crazy you know because we know we might not be they might not be able to deliver uh on the construction end so um but we're very happy in the end that the result came out I definitely wouldn't say it's 100% but it's also uh you know it's still a very high level and there's also you know so this um corporate identity you know whether it's a car or a bicycle I think it's all it's all about like you know it's a means of transportation so when you do like a headquarters for them I think the first thing of is you want to capture is the sense of movement that that dynamic right it's not a very it's not a static product that these companies make so um and then sort of just led to itself to the choice of aluminum panels as the most suitable language that actually easier to it's to manipulate in terms of form so um you know and we have a giant being a global company they actually have a lot of they have a big European operations so um you know I they actually and every year they would invite all the employees uh um from around the world back to their headquarters so one time I actually was on site when they had this big meeting and I did see a lot of European so of course I so I kind of approached them and they tell them who I was but I just said oh what do you think of this building oh it oh we love it it looks like it could just be in Germany so I I take it as a compliment again that they were very surprised to see oh wow our headquarters actually looks like some of the buildings they're used to seeing in in europe so so so to me that that was very um you know satisfying to hear that yeah yeah it's kind of interesting just like because about in terms of item patient it's like yesterday with our ms80 program we have like the uh oh yeah in here like just like uh it kind of like a cliche it's like the vernacular architecture in the right hot co and the bamboo material those like the greenery in all all over the south it's kind of wish a cliche but just like they have they are in the need of and so I'm stuck I can't I can't help but start thinking like I know like today he uses a lot of high tech actually just like you have seen like like the headquarters of giants and the for me just like a new typology of the manufacturer because like the manufacturer is very the scale is very large and like this kind of manufacturer it's kind of like taiwanese uh characteristic yeah he doesn't see any rest of the world just like because like the industrial of worker tech is in taiwan is like very unique and like this is the world top company and and you just I think it's like a chance and like the identification of like the city and all the I don't know just like for me just like a new typology for my picture yeah yeah no no how yeah that's very interesting because I mean as architects we the work we do pretty very much reflects the economy of of the country that we operate in right so taiwan is you know the dominant industry is the high tech industry and then jjp actually plays a very big role in that but we always say okay it's not the most glamorous because the form is really dictated by their assembly process right they they need these big open the big warehouse type of spaces that put their machinery in them but um we still try to at least on the outside to give it a more humanistic uh sustainable form and and you contrast that with uh for example what in the us probably like a lot of the uh amazon for example okay um amazon facilities right they're all just big bland very you know mundane uh warehouses right with all almost no architectural you know treatment thoughts but we but in taiwan we actually try to do something very different from that you know it's still a big box but uh we try to give this sort of a building typology a more uh a different look than a typical look so I think you're right we actually we are in the process of coming out with a not not a full monograph but sort of a a volume of dedicated to sort of this typology because we really think it's very unique uh into taiwan that that that that this building typology exists and such dominant place in the architectural industry so I can ask more questions but like I want to leave a chance to the audience just like we have like 17 people here do does anyone want to explore and don't know about like the techie and how architecture we can post in the qa section and we will ask for you okay so uh everybody most people from taiwan or we have a lot of international um guests today I have some my classmates from like Dubai from uh okay from Europe they are interested in but in this uh uh zoom with now I cannot see you who really participate here oh okay yeah um oh yeah and most of and many of the uh friends from China interested in your friend as well because okay like in Beijing and yeah so so as well so maybe you can mention about more about like your so earlier in in china in china okay so so um obviously the we actually had started our office in china about 15 years ago that was very long time ago right when china was opening up uh and obviously in the beginning it was really to serve the taiwanese our taiwanese clients who just who decided to have operations in china so we kind of the kind of took us along with them but I think recently because um china now is all is really coming into its own in terms of in all aspects you know society economy and everything so we actually are very interested in really doing a lot more different type of buildings and also serve a lot of different type of clients in china so um our there's a lot of our good opportunities in china so that's why we have a office of Beijing Shanghai and xiamen so we're really hoping that through this and I think because you know we share um taiwan and china we share the same common culture um so we really think that we we we are a unique position to really bring in some sort of not entirely local but also very familiar with with the local context and culture as opposed to because we know that there are a lot of already a very lot a lot of international firms operating in china but we think that tkp can be sort of like in the bridge between the all the you know foreign firms a big name western firms and now and then the local the the local architecture industry so we're kind of a unique position so we kind of hoping that uh you know more um chinese architects and chinese bright chinese architect students like those from columbia can join us in china we're very happy to have them since those details answers and yeah and since i'm kind of run out of time if we don't have any more ways so uh we are pleased to everybody to join these uh uh this event and we would like to invite everybody to have like a photo it's everybody yes please i'd like to see your faces i'm sure i'm sure i'll see i hope i see some familiar faces uh is that is that an option can everybody turn on their cameras or is it karen or leslie can can everybody turn on their camera um let me see okay i'll shout out to karen hi karen i thank you for joining us i hope i can meet you in person someday we we're very happy to always very happy to have g-side graduates joining us big big thank you gtf for inviting me to just so i go on the record uh to say that i know recording back on and also um you know leslie's been very instrumental in helping us put this together and again thank you how yeah you did a wonderful job um introducing uh uh the fur and um so um thank you everybody i hope this will give you better sense of uh with jjp who we are and then just one example of the giant headquarters that you know you should the level of architecture that we can do and some of the design thinking behind the work so very happy to be back at the school uh in the virtual format and then hi to all my friends in new york uh i hope i get to uh visit you all in person soon so thank you thank you so much david thank you for all your time and that was that was no problem presentation i'm going to just let everyone know that um it will be posted online and it will be in upcoming newsletters so for anyone who wasn't able to join um uh during this particular time it will be available so yeah i know it's a friday evening so go out and enjoy it's thursday but uh yeah thursday oh that's it's almost the weekend right you know new york is reopened so you can you can all go out now so very happy to see you here all about you okay thank you thank you now yeah okay see you bye bye