The Kaohsiung Main Public Library is the world’s first column-suspended “green” building, library director Pan Cheng-yi (潘政儀) said on Saturday.
The library, which opened in Kaohsiung’s Cianjhen District (前鎮) three years ago, has become a landmark of the city with its innovative energy-saving features, Pan said.
The balconies from the third to eighth floors on the building’s west and south sides have 5m-wide lawns, while an atrium on the sixth floor features a garden with several fully grown trees.
Photo: CNA
The plants help cool the building and reduce the use of air-conditioners, given the city’s high summer temperatures, Pan said, adding that the green surroundings also help visitors refresh themselves.
“The library is a ‘green’ building that can breathe,” Pan said. “There is a garden on its roof, where visitors can view the lovely Port of Kaohsiung.”
There are more than 5,000 air vents on the library’s floors that blow cool air from the bottom up and decrease energy consumption by about 30 percent, he said, adding that the indoor plants can also lower the temperature by 2°C.
Readers, books and the environment are integrated at the library, which is not a rigid structure, but an ecological space in harmony with its surroundings, he said.
The library has set six records, including the world’s first column-suspended building and most transparent library, as well as the world’s largest suspended atrium and the first 7.5m-high square without columns, Pan said.
It is also the nation’s most systematized structure with the most flexible functions, he said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS