Its outlook is the hot springs of Yang- minshan and the Taipei Plain beyond.
Many halls, of one, two, three and four storeys, are included in the complex, the highest ceiling reaching 37 metres. The front part of the building is of reinforced concrete while the back part is a composite steel and reinforced concrete structure.
In front of the building stands a marble gateway on which is inscribed in Dr. Sun's handwriting: "The World Belongs to All”. The gateway is a stylised rendering of the old gateways found everywhere in China, par- ticularly in Peking.
Steps from the gateway lead to a circular hall which gives entry to the various halls of the building. Above the circular hall is a living room and dining room for guests with panara- mic views of the surroundings, and crowning the circular structure is a pavilion.
One is again reminded of the grandeur of the Peking palaces by the marble stairways, corridors and round door which lead from the circular hall to a large meeting hall capable of seating 1,800. This hall is 10 metres high. Above it at first floor level is a mess hall, also 10 metres high and able to seat 1,800.
The girders for these halls, which span 27 metres and reach a height of 14 metres, form a portal frame constructed of fabricated steel mem- bers embedded in concrete. Such a long span truss is rarely found in buildings in Taiwan. A reason for the concrete cladding was to avoid corrosion a serious problem in this hot springs area. Even so the type of construction used brought a considerable weight saving.
Other rooms serving as parlour and convention hall are richly decorated in soothing colours. An oblong table
28
Main gateway
with rounded corners and matching chairs to seat 100 fills the convention hall, at one end of which is a movie screen for use during briefings. In the parlour the wooden furniture and silk coverings are finely crafted.
Construction problem
To cope with the hilly terrain, some 6,000 cu.m. of earth were re- moved in providing a construction site area of 15,000 sq. m. The building was designed to take up almost all of the available ground space.
To avoid settlement of the earth fill in the front part of the founda- tion, and to avoid cracking, concrete slabs were used in the floor. A special joint was provided between the filling and the cutting part of the foundation to isolate the building and so safe- guard against deformation caused by
earth movement.
The geological formation of the land in the Yang- minshan region is volcanic. Geo- thermal measure- ments at the con- struction site gave a temperature of 98 degrees C at a depth of 15 cm. below ground.
This heat causes numerous orifices in the ground to emit sulphurous steam which through corrosive action destroys concrete and me- tals at a rapid rate. The ground heat prevented workers standing
Main entrance and pavilion
Far East BUILDER, August 1968.