The walls create floor-to-ceiling windows on every floor of the north-facing building, optimizing the use of natural light and encouraging indoor gardens. Movable vertical blinds complement the windows, allowing occupants to control the direction and amount of daylighting. To utilize the irregular interior spaces created by the windows, discussion rooms and lounging spots employ the alcoves.
The ground floor of the eight-story building boasts a high-ceilinged foyer, auditorium, and staff restaurant. The second to seventh floors are research spaces, and executive offices occupy the eighth floor. The 5-story plant on the south side is built with a damping diagonal bracing structure, and the heightened basement air raid shelter and garage are planned to meet the parking needs for phase two expansion in the future.
WHY THIS MATTERS:
Buildings like the Neo Solar Power headquarters with floor-to-ceiling windows allow for daylighting, saving a great deal (especially in office buildings where there are tons of lights) of energy that would be needed for artificial lighting.
+ J. J. Pan & Partners, Architects & Planners
Images © JJPP
Wow, that is a huge mechanical room. Did anyone stop to think about how much energy is required instead to keep this 8-storey pseudo solar furnace cool?
Those internal shades actually do very little to mitigate all the heat that is being transmitted through AND absorbed by all that glazing.
And Hsinchu is on the site of the “Hsinchu-Taichung” earthquake of 1935; the second worst in Taiwanese history. What’s going to happen to all that glass in the event of a serious earthquake? Or rather – what is going to happen to all the people underneath it?
I’m sure the building has Neo power’s best solar panels – somewhere – but probably not to the same brilliant extent as the C.F. Møller Aarhus Office Building: http://inhabitat.com/brand-new-aarhus-office-building-covered-in-a-wall-of-solar-panels/
“Steal work?” Corporate espionage?