Shelter

Cool Cool Seaside is a pavi­lion made from three raised ship­ping contai­ners, which provides shelter for two basket­ball courts in a square near the docks of Kaoh­siung City, Taiwan.

If you take some time to get around here, you will discover a local neigh­bor­hood situated just between that bust­ling road and the pier-side, where the place is deco­rated with some casually erected melon sheds, a small square in front of the temple, and plenty of randomly placed plan­ta­tions. Above all, you will also be treated to some water­front sceneries in the cool breeze as you stand in this subtro­pical city of Taiwan.

Neighborhood

Thanks to the Urban Deve­lo­p­ment Bureau, this home­like neigh­bor­hood is once again being intro­duced to the public by means of revi­ta­liza­tion. The site was already home to two basket­ball courts and an area of concrete seating, which the new struc­ture seeks to unify and make more welco­ming for resi­dents and tourists alike.

The struc­ture was desi­gned by Atelier Let’s.

Cool Cool Seaside is made from three contai­ners, raised off the ground on steel beams, with sides that fold outwards to become canopies for the seating area beneath.

Container

The three ship­ping contai­ners, a refe­rence to the site’s past as a colo­nial Japa­nese railyard, were disas­sem­bled and reduced to their steel skele­tons before being rein­forced, repainted and recon­s­tructed.

Thin steel bars support the sides of the contai­ners, which canti­lever at either narrow end and are supported by slim columns along the longer edges.

Space Configuration

In between two basket­ball courts, the new canopy is added to provide a shaded area for people on both sides. The longi­tu­dinal axis of the square is aligned to the center of the cultural belief of the resi­dents, Wen-Long Temple. The archi­tects emptied the middle part of the canopy, so Wen-Long Temple would remain visually acces­sible when one viewing from the other side of the square. The height of the canopy is also carefully calcu­lated so that it does not exceed the ridge of the temple.

The freedom and flexi­bi­lity of the space, as well as the pene­tra­bi­lity of the façade is what is aimed to be preserved as much as possible

Materials and Tectonics

Given the limited time, it was neces­sary to utilize ready-made mate­rials as much as possible in compo­sing the canopy. The exis­ting rein­forced concrete seats conve­ni­ently become the foun­da­tion of the canopy, saving the time to be spent on excava­tion for other parts of the cons­truc­tion. The main struc­ture is disas­sem­bled and reformed by two cargo boxes, the side panels of which made into suns­hades and the frame­works into struc­tural supports. All of which are then lifted up by 15cm*15cm H‑shaped columns erected closely adja­cent to the concrete seats, crea­ting the neces­sary resis­tance against the sheer force.

Finally, the texture of the southern-pine­wood floo­ring gives a sense of rela­xa­tion in provi­ding an envi­ron­ment for the resi­dents to rest under­neath the canopy at ease.

A massage to the city

In addi­tion, with the touch of Bamboo Yang, a bril­liant graf­fi­tist from WALLRIORS, the colors of the basket­ball court are now in perfect harmony with the atmo­sphere of this place.

Ther­e­fore, whether you are here for a nap, or taking your time diving into a bowl of shaved ice, or simply just looking for a chill-out spot, the canopy stands here, welco­ming you with its span­ning roofs.

As if giving a massage to the city, this place helps it shed away some weari­ness of the ever­yday life, allo­wing the vita­lity to sprawl on without boun­da­ries.