RED SHINE GATEWAY 赤曜牌樓

We collaborated the traditional construction methods with a contemporary presentation, by creating a reusable installation design in the setting of a temple space.

The structure of the Red Shine Gateway is built with the traditional bamboo scaffolding. Since the Xinzhuang Old Street was once a famous bamboo market in the ancient Taipei basin, we specially chose bamboo as the building material, for a renewed texture and re-interpretation of local history. The structure is then supported by four connected arrays of bamboo layers, and each is painted with different tones of red color to enhance the visual perception of the space.

We made the metal plates of the shade shelter over the courtyard partially transparent and partially red. Through the transparent layer, natural sunlight can gently flow into the temple space, while red layer symbolizes the red tiles that were widely used to build traditional temple roofs.

At night time, both vertical and horizontal LED light bars attached to the bamboo structure are well lit up, composing an abstract re-presentation of the gateway as light shimmers like candle lights in the temple. The red illumination show is arranged in several settings to show the heart-warming and enthusiastic characters of Guan Yu.

Erected on the busy and always crowded Temple Street, Red Shine Gateway seamlessly blends into the surrounding environment. The existing electricity cables that hover over the street are also skillfully integrated into our bamboo structure, giving the nearby public area a neat and bright look.

The transformation of the gateway also bridges the gap between people and the temple. The light and transparent spatial transition has successfully brought more visitors and activities into the sacred space.

As the original courtyard turns into a sheltered semi open space, neighbors and believers are welcomed into the atmosphere for ritual events and cultural activities.

Different scenes are taking place in the quieter evenings, as the crowd disperses at night, the Wu Shen Temple stands as a shining guide light watching over the neighborhood, and willingly witnesses the generations to come.