A temporary timber pavilion in Chiayi, Taiwan, frames a public courtyard opposite City Hall and stages an exhibition that re-reads the city’s wood-building culture through material, spatial, and curatorial tactics. The project translates archival research on local timber typologies into a perimeter architecture that doubles as an urban room and a didactic ring, inviting residents to evaluate wood’s past uses and its contemporary feasibility within a seismic context.
Wooden Wonders Technical Information
- Architects: MVRDV
- Location: Opposite City Hall, Chiayi, Taiwan
- Gross Area: 780 m2 | 8,396 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years: 2025
- Photographs: © Shephotoerd
Once a pragmatic and widely available construction material, timber became old-fashioned when materials such as concrete and steel became cheaper and more efficient. Nowadays the climate crisis forces us to look from a different angle: wood stores carbon, while concrete and steel release huge quantities; meanwhile, decades of research and innovation have made modern buildings increasingly viable with engineered timber techniques.
– Jacob van Rijs
Re-reading Chiayi’s Timber Legacy
The pavilion positions itself within Chiayi’s long-standing wood economy, now reframed by forest protection and a substantial urban stock of surviving timber buildings. Rather than treating heritage as a static tableau, the design mines local precedents as a rule set: diagonal cuts that soften street intersections, and composite rooflines shaped by ornamental crowns and façade trims. These elements are not reproduced as facsimiles; they are abstracted into geometries that govern the perimeter’s silhouette and thresholds.
This approach tackles a specifically Taiwanese skepticism toward wood in a seismic regime that often favors concrete retrofits or replacement. By coupling archival reading with full-scale construction, the pavilion presents timber as both cultural memory and a viable contemporary system. The project suggests that typological intelligence embedded in the city’s older wooden stock can be rearticulated through current detailing, fastening, and performance criteria without resorting to pastiche.
Perimeter Ring, Civic Void
A square timber ring defines the site and releases the center as a courtyard facing City Hall. Three wide gateways align with adjacent streets, multiplying approach vectors and transforming the plot into a porous civic room. Four chamfered corners register the city’s corner-building typology at an urban scale, while roofline variations along each side form a didactic elevation that references notable local wooden precedents. The perimeter reads as a continuous band, calibrating enclosure, shade, and view across its length.
Pastel-toned interiors within the ring recall neighborhood palettes and serve as wayfinding, differentiating exhibition zones while maintaining visual continuity toward the courtyard. Concentrating the program in the thickened edge keeps the central void adaptable for gatherings, daytime workshops, and night projection. The ring’s tectonic clarity reinforces this urban strategy: structure, envelope, and display are co-located, preserving a legible figure-ground that can absorb varied public uses during the short exhibition window.
Exhibition as Spatial Pedagogy
The exhibition unfolds as a five-part sequence embedded in the perimeter. A multi-sensory forest room links silviculture to harvesting and material cycles, making growth rates, species characteristics, and processing tangible. A workshop section foregrounds craft and maintenance, situating tooling, joinery, and repair culture as integral to the lifecycle rather than as decorative afterthoughts. Together, they frame timber not only as a product but as a practice, with upkeep and knowledge transfer positioned as architectural concerns.
Comparative displays situate Chiayi within a global timber discourse, outlining how regions from Norway to New Zealand have adapted techniques and governance to sustain wood-building cultures. The two-storey northern hall then pivots from observation to projection, presenting scenarios for a “timber future” and inviting visitors to contribute proposals. The space performs as a forum where public participation is directly linked to spatial learning, using the building’s own sections, spans, and joints as explanatory devices.
Material Strategies, Risk Culture, Temporality
As a temporary construction in a seismic setting where wood is often perceived as less reliable, the pavilion operates as a scaled test of material performance and assembly discipline. Its limited lifespan intensifies questions of process: tolerance management in timber connections, moisture control in an outdoor civic role, and the reversibility of fixings for disassembly. The choice to concentrate load-bearing elements and services within the ring reduces structural complexity in the courtyard and simplifies operational risk during events.
A clear tectonic hierarchy supports the curatorial agenda. The ring consolidates program, structure, and exhibition infrastructure, while the unencumbered courtyard becomes a shared resource, accommodating forums by day and projection mapping at night. By aligning an architectural language drawn from Chiayi’s wooden stock with content on contemporary engineered timber and policy frameworks, the pavilion positions preservation and forward-looking construction as a single continuum. The result is less a spectacle than a working diagram of how material culture, risk governance, and public space can be co-produced.
About MVRDV
Founded in 1993 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, MVRDV is an internationally recognized architecture and urban design practice known for its forward-thinking approach to sustainability, innovation, and urban revitalization. The studio combines rigorous research with experimental design, often manifesting in projects that provoke public dialogue and challenge conventional architectural norms. With a diverse portfolio spanning cultural, residential, and civic works globally, MVRDV remains committed to creating inclusive, adaptive, and ecologically responsive environments.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Client: Chiayi City Government
- Wood Structure: Guanglai Construction
- Projection Mapping: IF Plus
- Local Executing Team: Bunkder Design
- Photographs: © Shephotoerd
