The Elixir

The Elixir is an aesthetic medicine office located in the middle of the industrial area in Tainan, an ambitious project that aims to break the traditional architectural form in this area and propose the possibility of connecting green and sustainability in the industrial factory environment. At the same time, this aesthetic architecture should target the issues of the surrounding area, including noise and air pollution, the humid hot weather, and the perplexing urban design. The architecture is designed with three rectangular shapes suspended from the ground level, decorating the ground floor with a wavey-shaped landscape pool and flowerbed, and inviting natural light into the basement while planting trees on the ground floor and basement level. We setback the architecture 26 meters with the landscaped pool at the front to greet the guests with its interesting wavelike shape and flowy movement of water, cooling down the air around and washing away all the dust and noises as trees and pools protect the building from directly facing the road. Surrounded by U-shaped glass as its façade, the curvilinear landscape pool creates an interesting surreal comparison between the suspended rectangle architecture and the surrounding landscape, stretching up the entire visual scale of the project site as trees grow from the basement and enrich the scale through the penetrated U-shaped façade. The project design forms a natural circulation system through its design. The landscaped pool cools down the temperature at the lower level and creates natural buoyancy-driven ventilation with hot air on the patio, forming a natural circulation system with constant clean and cold air. At the same time, the wasted air brought by traffic in the basement ventilates and purifies the outside space through the greenery and gap of the basement. Designing with patios and an open basement doesn’t just improve the overall circulation, but also ensures better lighting by breaking the conventional ideology of dark and confined basement space with green and natural views. When natural light shines from the top roof toward the basement space, it creates beautiful visual images as daylight changes. From the outside, the Elixir stands tall as a breathtaking light-color architecture among the crowded factories, while employees and visitors will enjoy a beautiful landscape design of the organic shapes and performances of light and shadows with the special touch of the U-shaped glasses from the inside, protecting everyone from the outer bustle and hustle. In a greatly polluted area, what it means for the architect is no longer how to blend in with the surroundings, but to be creative and to become a pioneer of a better environment and take care of the fundamental needs of the client. Like the word “elixir,” the project aims to cure our land with the magic touch of the water and to preserve the best of our nature through simple but intriguing design.