Entitled “Meta(bio)lism”, the project – more than the design of a building – is conceived as research platform exploring the relationship between human construction and natural ecosystems in the city of Taichung in Taiwan. Material stocks and flows are addressed at multiple scales, ranging from studies of local materials, such as clay, to the investigation of construction assemblies for roof structures at the building scale as well as examinations of urban patterns at the territorial scale. Of fundamental importance is the search for alternative proposals to current real estate development which, as stated by the author, “exploit nature instead of working with nature”. 

Whereas the beauty and precision of the submitted drawings initially captured the attention of the jury, a closer look at the project revealed a deep sensibility for social, technical, and environmental concerns – all combined and transformed into a stunning research for an architecture of the future in synthesis with natural metabolisms. The jury was impressed by the scheme’s exuberant deployment of architectural and technical means – both analogue and digital –to explore and broad range of important themes relating to sustainable construction. This said, the jury argued that less might be more, recommending that the project could benefit from an economy of means, while maintaining its optimistic call for working with rather than against nature.