Pebble-shaped office building adds an icon of sustainability to Taipei

Taipei’s skyline is best known for Taipei 101—the world’s tallest green building—but another sculptural building will soon hold its own as the city’s latest icon of sustainability. International architecture firm Aedas is nearing completion on Lè Architecture, a pebble-shaped office building wrapped in vertical green vegetation and designed to achieve LEED Gold certification.

Created as part of a greater revitalization project in Taipei’s Nangang District, Lè Architecture is an 18-story green office building that mimics the likeness of a standing moss-covered pebble with its tapered silhouette. Flat glass panels clad the exterior and give the building a polished finish. Vertical aluminum fins loop around the building to minimize unwanted solar heat gain. At night, the glazed building will be illuminated with different lighting effects to make the office appear to shimmer like a gem.

To achieve LEED Gold status, Lè Architecture is designed to minimize energy demands. Natural light fills the interior through the building’s glass envelope to reduce reliance on artificial lighting. Green planters hung on the west side create a 60-meter-tall green wall to provide shading and regulate interior temperatures. Indoor trees on the south side create “urban living rooms” on every floor.

“Pebbles that stay close to the riverbanks always have a green coat of mosses, giving the polished stones a unique texture,” write Aedas. “The vertical green wall on the façade turns the building into a standing pebble. The journey of pebbles from the river to the sea signifies the beginning of a successful journey. Meanwhile, the building’s egg-like shape implies that it is an incubator of knowledge and a metaphor of intellectual revival.” Lè Architecture is slated for completion in 2017.