Golden A' Design Award Winner 2020
Po Chun Tu's Anxin Exhibition Center represents a remarkable achievement in contemporary exhibition architecture, wherein the designer transforms laminated timber into a landscape of monumental sculptural presence that reimagines the conventional boundaries between furniture, architecture, and installation art. The work emerges from traditions of material investigation that honor the inherent qualities of wood while demonstrating the extraordinary possibilities enabled by modern engineering and fabrication technologies. Each towering panel appears to have been shaped by elemental forces, their varying heights and curved profiles suggesting organic geological processes translated through sophisticated digital design methodologies into precisely realized built form. The chromatic unity achieved through the exclusive use of natural wood tones creates an environment of remarkable warmth and coherence, wherein subtle variations in grain pattern and surface coloration provide visual interest without disrupting the meditative atmosphere. Technically, the work demonstrates exceptional understanding of how laminated timber can achieve structural heights and formal expressions previously associated primarily with steel or concrete construction, expanding the material vocabulary available to contemporary spatial practitioners. The compositional strategy of creating processional passages between the monumental elements transforms visitors into participants in an immersive spatial experience, moving through narrow canyons of wood toward moments of revelation and opening. The deliberate contrast between the warm organic presence of the timber and the dark industrial ceiling above heightens awareness of the installation's transformative power, converting anonymous exhibition hall into sacred grove. Viewers might consider how the work invites contemplation of humanity's relationship to natural materials and the ways architectural intervention can create spaces of wonder and reflection within commercial contexts.
The shape of wood veneer shavings radians is the main inspiration for the design. The curved shape wall of logs scattered and stacked in the periphery covers the whole exhibition hall, creating a mysterious and quiet atmosphere through the physical structure. With the large log around, let a person feel like in the forest. At the entrance, vaguely the map distribution of the forest farm resources owned by Anxin around the world. The map made of log waste vividly shows the history. The specially designed rotating plate adds interest and interaction to the scene.