Green(ish) Buildings In My Neighborhood

The building on the right is the Yang Kuei Memorial Literature Museum, a newish cultural facility about three kilometers from my home. It has a handful of green features: The site has about 30 young trees; rather than slather blacktop all over the site, they've use small square stones for the parking area (this allows rainwater to permeate into the ground naturally, reducing the risk of flooding); and parts of the exterior are covered with wooden slats, which should reduce heat gain on sunny days. I've no idea if the stones used around the building were retrieved from a derelict site or quarried. Like most Taiwanese buildings, the structure is basically concrete, and there's no rainwater harvesting or solar-energy system.

The other building is a police station. It too has a water-permeable parking area; the grass growing between the slabs is certainly more attractive than standard asphalt. Also, there are solar thermal panels on the roof (just about visible in the photo) for hot water - a good idea, as policemen often shower at the end of a shift.

According to this article in the government's Taiwan Journal, the majority of green buildings in Taiwan were built by the public sector. It's Part 2 of a two-part report; Part 1 is here.