One of Taiwan’s largest public utility companies is ready to make a bold statement about its intentions with a new operations storage facility from MVRDV called "Sun Rock" that will play a significant part in the country’s transition to a green energy economy. This is the firm’s second recent effort in the country behind the Tainan Spring adaptive reuse project that was announced in March of 2020. 

Billed as a “manifesto in a building,” Sun Rock’s energy-saving effects are produced by a large dome and sloping southern front made functional by a series of pleats covered in PV panels that help the building generate up to a remarkable 1.7 million kWh of clean energy in a given year. The building includes a maintenance workshop, gallery spaces, roof terrace, and a special data display room that has all been made available to the public in an effort to showcase the shared goal of sustainability which defines both the country and firm.

“Of course, we aim to make all of our projects as sustainable as possible. Yet we see that projects can go beyond just being sustainable in themselves. This project has unique and fascinating potential,” MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas said in a statement. “The user is an energy company, which has allowed us to do more than usual. We cladded the entire façade with photovoltaics, maximizing the energy gains to make it not only self-sustainable, for its own usage but also allowing the building to become a tool of energy production, exporting electricity to the rest of the grid. This is achieved through a maximally efficient positioning of the panels. As a result, our design is completely data-driven. It’s always fun to see the results when you let analysis be the determining part of the design.”

The building is located on a solar exposure-rich site called the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park near Taichung.

“The sustainable energy-generating features of Sun Rock make the building more than simply an operations and maintenance facility,” the project brief said finally. “The building is thus also an important communication tool for Taipower to publicly show their ambitions for a greener future.”