A wholesale fruit and vegetable market designed by MVRDV has opened in the Taiwanese city of Tainan. A special feature of the Tainan Xinhua Fruit and Vegetable Market is its walkable roof, where visitors can relax and enjoy the surroundings. In the future, the roof will be further developed, allowing crops to grow in addition to grass and flowers.
Tainan's fruit and vegetable market is housed in a building with an undulating and green roof inspired by the surrounding hilly landscape. Because of its height and open facades, the interior space is well ventilated; the earth and plantings on the roof provide additional cooling. In this way, the market will have a comfortable temperature even in the hot Taiwanese summers, MVRDV promises.
To break away from the usual shed typology for this type of building and make a visit to the market more pleasant, the firm has made the roof accessible. Visitors enter a hilly park landscape there, which seems a natural part of the environment. Metal railings and a detached building with additional functions remind visitors that they are on the roof of a complex.
At the eastern corner, the roof slopes down to the ground through a series of terraces with colorful plants and flowers. Here visitors can walk up and down the rooftop landscape. Water can be pumped up and is collected on the terraces themselves through water retention. Visitors will find shelter, benches and picnic tables on the terraces. Paths connect the terraces to each other.
In the volume that rises above the roof landscape like an archetypal house, there are four floors where the market's offices and a gallery are located and where agricultural products from the region can be displayed. A second access to the roof has been realized in this part of the complex.
Other projects in Taiwan
MVRDV designed the Tainan Xinhua Fruit and Vegetable Market in collaboration with local firm LLJ Architects. Earlier, the firm transformed an old shopping mall in the city into a water park. Elsewhere in Taiwan, MVRDV also has a number of projects underway, including the recently constructed Sun Rock, a power company's storage facility completely covered with solar panels.
