Taiwan’s most environmental building to open

The official opening of what is claimed to be Taiwan's first energy-saving and zero-carbon building takes place this week (January 12).


The YS Sun Green Building Research Centre in the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) in the city of Tainan, is according to on the verge to acquire the highest green building certificates according to university president Michael Ming-Chiao Lai.

Built over four levels, three above ground and one below and covering a total floor space of 4,800m², the centre will serve as NCKU’s international conference centre and exhibit other green building technologies.

The centre, named after former Taiwanese premier and engineer Sun Yun-Suan, features technologies including ‘natural buoyancy ventilation’ which lets the 300 capacity conference hall stay cool in summer and warm in winter without using the air conditioning.

It was also constructed with 200 tons of serpentine jade cement, which have high levels of alkaline, magnetic field and hydroxyl radicals which, supposedly, naturally purify air.

Ming-Chiao Lai sadid: “The Centre is rewriting the history of world architecture research and has mobilised four top university professors who led 12 master and doctoral students in an experiment of the construction of a never-seen-before green building.

“The university has many fruitful achievements in alternative energy research, according to the academic ranking of the internationally renowned publisher company Elsevier, NCKU ranks 19th globally in the research papers of Alternative Energy and is the only Taiwanese institution among the global top 25 list.”

Luke Walsh

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