Miaoli Hakka Literature Garden Visitor Center by Guu Architects & Associates

The Miaoli Hakka Literature Garden Visitor Center is situated in the heart of Gongguan, Miaoli, within a cultural landscape shaped by Hakka heritage and the area’s mining past. Nestled along the Houlong River valley, the site is framed by sweeping natural vistas, with cherry blossom trails winding toward the surrounding mountains and direct views across the river toward the historic mining pit. The project serves not merely as a visitor center but as a cultural threshold, linking natural scenery, historical memory, and contemporary public life.

Rather than acting as an isolated object, the design seeks to dissolve into the surrounding environment. The architecture is conceived as a subtle mediator between people and place, encouraging visitors to slow down, observe, and connect with the rhythms of Miaoli’s landscape. Guu Architects approached the project not as a literal translation of Hakka cultural forms but as an interpretation rooted in spatial experience and site-specific qualities.

Axial Organization and Spatial Experience

The design is structured around two primary axes that organize both the building and its surrounding circulation. The first axis runs parallel to the mountains and the valley, extending visually toward Fude Village, creating an orientation that offers sweeping panoramic views while also establishing a subtle dialogue with the nearby settlement.

The second axis follows the summer solstice sun path, forging a symbolic and spatial link between the historical mining site and the future literary museum to the northwest. This axis becomes the primary circulation guide, directing visitors through a sequence of outdoor and indoor spaces, framing views, and reinforcing the building’s role as a connector between past, present, and future.

These axes manifest not only in the plan but also in the pathways and corridors that thread through the site. Semi-outdoor walkways, transitional passages, and scenic routes align with these orientations, allowing air, light, and seasonal breezes to flow freely. This approach blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior, encouraging a constant dialogue between built form and natural setting.

Architectural Form and Structure

The building itself is composed of a large, unifying roof plane that shelters a cluster of smaller, carefully arranged volumes. This compositional strategy reinforces the axial connections and organizes the visitor experience while maintaining a sense of lightness and openness. The roof not only provides shade and protection but also acts as a framing device, directing sightlines toward key landscape moments.

At the center of the project lies a generous semi-outdoor plaza, a flexible space for public events, cultural gatherings, and spontaneous activities. Spanning this plaza is a triangular truss system that resolves the challenge of a long-span roof while visually expressing the geometry of the site’s axial framework. The result is an architectural gesture that feels both rational and poetic, functional and symbolic.

Materiality and Cultural Resonance

Material choices are deliberately understated, chosen to evoke the tactile and textural memory of Hakka culture without resorting to direct imitation. Board-formed concrete provides a sense of grounded solidity reminiscent of the stacked stone walls of traditional settlements. Meanwhile, a suspended terracotta-brick screen wall creates a porous, breathable façade. This screen allows light to filter through in constantly shifting patterns, producing an ever-changing interplay of shadow and illumination that animates the interior spaces throughout the day.

These material gestures transform the building into a sensorial experience: the texture of concrete under hand, the warm glow of sunlight through brick perforations, the sound of wind moving through open corridors. Together, they weave a subtle narrative that celebrates the continuity of Hakka tradition within a contemporary architectural language.

Integration with Nature and Community

Beyond its architectural qualities, the visitor center serves as an active public node within the Hakka Literature Garden. Its spatial openness invites locals and travelers alike to gather, rest, and observe the surrounding scenery. The semi-outdoor plaza acts as a civic living room where cultural programs can unfold, reinforcing the project’s role as a platform for community exchange.

The design also pays careful attention to ecological integration. By keeping the built mass relatively low and dispersed, the project preserves sightlines to the mountains and valley, ensuring that the landscape remains the protagonist of the visitor experience. Transitional spaces encourage natural ventilation and daylighting, reducing reliance on mechanical systems and strengthening the connection to Miaoli’s climate and seasons.

A Modest Monument to Place

Ultimately, the Miaoli Hakka Literature Garden Visitor Center is a quiet but powerful architectural intervention. It does not compete with the dramatic scenery or the weight of history that surrounds it. Instead, it amplifies and frames them, acting as a lens through which visitors can encounter the cultural and natural richness of the site. Through its careful alignment, sensitive materiality, and open-ended spatial strategies, the project becomes a living extension of the landscape — a place where history, nature, and daily life intersect.

Photography: Rex Chu