尋找環境中的普遍性與特殊性
本案位於柬埔寨金邊郊區，提供主管級人士在工廠邊的宿舍，一般工人大多通勤返回柬埔寨民宅，在附近一望無際的曠野移動，純功能的構造物零星出現在雜草中形成工業地景的氛圍，水塔、工廠、斜頂、煙囪、圍籬，厚重水平展開的雲層，與蔓延到地平線的黃綠色大地，讓場域成為一種水平性的無限綿延，相似的場景讓人無所適從，如何在此處提供一個居所？
加強磚造在台灣鄉間也常常看到矩陣的框架鑲嵌著牆體，但在此無地震帶國家，框架的概念性得以脫離結構的合理性，不管一個樓層高或兩個樓層高的不同細長比，柱樑皆是25x25公分的斷面沒有分別，但考慮實際施工經濟性也在純概念的框架給出了4x4公尺的合理設定，在此處我們有意識的表現柱還有樑的秩序，無樑板、懸臂板等等服務感官的設計技巧在此並沒有採用，我們希望一種空間機制被傳達出來，各種當地的合理性產生「不得不如此」的狀態，儘管此處的環境與寬鬆法規其實給了一塊完全自由的畫布，我們希望感官層面的效果是在「不得不如此」的狀態下自然而然出現的，而不是將預設的美學訓練投射在此。無限綿延的水平也因柱樑秩序被框出一種體驗，我們在普遍性中尋找特殊性，又在特殊性中尋找普遍性，我們設定空間機制，希望利用這個普遍性解決需求問題，卻也在大地中產生了特殊性。
空間的方向性
建築不管型態如何展現，都是人與環境的中介，我們要何種建築想法來中介環境決定了我們的世界觀，這決定了整個場域究竟是無限重複的令人感到渺小的工業地景，還是安穩寧靜的居所？是一種殖民式的美學統治，還是一種自然生成的輕鬆秩序？
宿舍從平面圖觀看，是一個完整的正方形，在更仔細觀察後，其中有更多方形的秩序，天井、房間、廁所的配置皆如此，方形在建築發想的階段是一種沒有特定方向性的空間，讓身處方形空間的人去感受沒有特定方向性的狀態產生，有別於一般住宅常見長條型空間的前後左右配置的關係。
水平性的畫分兩個樓層機能，一樓空間使用規劃是較公眾性，二樓相對就是較私密、個人的宿舍安排。柬埔寨處於熱帶季風性氣候，全年高溫，分旱雨兩季。沒有颱風或地震等自然災害。考量到柬埔寨當地的炎熱氣候，需要打造半戶外的透氣空間，盡量減少空調的過度使用，開展了屋頂的延伸。水平線的屋頂在低度的環境平面上融為一體，不過度彰顯建築的存在，有別於斜屋頂顯著的方向性，水平屋頂的使用更展現無特定方向性的思考。
建築外圍的旋轉梯提供使用者出入二樓的另一種選擇，有別於制式的長條形樓梯，旋轉梯帶出了沒有特定方向的構想，讓使用者上下出入的過程中，每個定點都是獨特面向的風景，經由旋轉梯的巧思，感受建築與外圍環境中的相融性，以及純白建築在光影下所呈現的變化性。建築內部中直達二樓的長型樓梯就帶出了不同於旋轉梯感性思考的理性功能用途，連結了一樓的公眾性與二樓的私密性，在兩種相對的面向中，扮演和諧連結的中間者角色。
白色在此悶熱的環境通常是為了反射太陽輻射熱，不管是周遭鐵皮屋、本案以及悶熱氣候的雲層，出現了白色在各種陰影下的表情，這個白原先是設想一種概念性的純白，然而實踐後這些不同色階的白卻意外成為一種自然而然的與場域相融的白。
在一望無際缺少涵構的環境下，用建築的秩序錨定環境的關係，最後的完工照片如同白色模型般抽離現實卻又融入環境，這種建築的魔力是本案想達到的效果。這是一個以理性平面所累加的住所，彼此間的尺度，互相影響著建構這個系統。
Look for the universal and the particular in the environment
This project is located on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. It provides dormitories for executives near a factory. Most of the workers commute back to their Cambodian homes and move around in the endless wilderness nearby. Pure functional structures sporadically appear among the weeds to form an industrial landscape. Water towers, factories, sloping roofs, chimneys, fences, thick and horizontal clouds, and the yellow-green earth spread to the horizon, making the field a horizontal and infinite extension. How to provide a residential structure in this environment?
Reinforced brick construction is typical in rural Taiwan; a concrete frame in-filled with brick walls. But Cambodia is not in an earthquake zone. The concept of the structural concrete frame can be separated from the rationality of the construction. Whether a one or two story building, the dimension of columns and beams can be set at 25cm x 25cm. Given the economy of construction, we chose a column grid of 4x4m. We consciously express the column and beam as conceptual frame. Other forms of shear wall or beamless slab construction methods that may be visually interesting were not considered. We hope that the structural system will convey a spatial expression as ‘self-evident’ rather than any preconditioned aesthetics.
Directionality of space
No matter how the architecture is presented, it is an intermediary between its inhabitants and the environment. What are the kinds of architectural ideas that mediate the environment determines our world view. Do we want an entire field of infinitely repeated industrial landscape that makes people feel small? Or do we aspire to a safe and peaceful place to live? We do perpetuate a colonial aesthetic of domination, or a natural, relaxed order?
Viewed from the floor plan, the dormitory is a complete square. After closer inspection, there are more squares in the order. The configuration of patios, rooms, and toilets is the same. The square is a space without specific direction at the stage of architectural ideation , so that people in the square space can feel the state of no specific direction, which is different from the front, back, left and right configuration of the common long strip space in ordinary houses.
The horizontal painting is divided into two floors. The space planning on the first floor is more public, and the second floor is a relatively private with personal dormitory rooms. Cambodia has a tropical monsoon climate, with high temperatures throughout the year with a dry and wet season. There are no natural disasters such as typhoons or earthquakes. Considering the local climate, it is necessary to create a semi-outdoor ventilation space, minimize the excessive use of air conditioners, and carry out the extension of the roof. The roof of the horizontal line is integrated on the low-level environmental plane, and does not overly highlight the existence of the building. Different from the obvious directionality of the sloping roof, the use of the horizontal roof shows the thinking without specific direction.
The rotating staircase at the periphery of the building provides another option for users to enter and exit the second floor. Different from the standard elongated staircase, the rotating staircase brings out the concept of no specific direction. During the process of allowing users to go up and down, each fixed point uniquely orients the landscape. Through the ingenuity of the rotating ladder, you can sense the integration of the building and its surrounding environment, as well as the variability of the pure white building under the light and shadow. The long staircase leading to the second floor in the interior of the building brings out a rational function that is different from the perceptual thinking of the rotating staircase. It connects the public nature of the first floor with the privacy of the second floor. And it harmonious connects two opposite elements acting as a ‘middleman’.
White is usually used in this sultry environment to reflect the radiant heat of the sun. Whether it is the surrounding tin house, this case or the clouds in the sultry climate, the expression of white in various shades appears. This white was originally conceived as a conceptual pure white, but after practice this white color of different tones unexpectedly become a kind of white that naturally blends with the field.
In an environment which lacks structure, the order of the building is used to anchor the relationship within the environment. The final completed photograph of the building is like a white model, detached from reality but integrated into the environment. The magic of this architecture is the effect that it wants to achieve. This is a dwelling that is accumulated by rational planes, and the scales of each other influence each other to construct this system.