1. The Dark Line, Building of the year 2023
We are honoured to proclaim “The Dark Line” by Michèle Orliac, and Miquel Batlle with the collaboration of Chung-Hsun Wu as METALOCUS Building of the Year 2023, an action with which we highlight the best architecture of the moment, as well as its authors and teams involved, either participating, helping or collaborating in the most outstanding architectural creation...
2. Listening to Nan Shan, Zen master by Philippe Bonnin
In the book that recounts the teachings of Nan Shan, a Zen master who dedicated himself to placing stones and planting bamboo, he says that when starting a landscaping project (in Japanese: Sansui 山水 -mountain and water), a garden project, although the terrain is flat, neutral, without anything notable that can be highlighted, or put into value, the true gardener must know how to pick up the slightest clue, know how to read the slightest trace, both in the indicated area and outside where these clouds come from, these winds, these rains, these lights, these sounds, these memories...
3. Noli me Tangere (Do not touch me) by Joan Roig
I usually do not speak or write about a work that I do not know personally, mainly out of caution, but also out of modesty. It is difficult to venture an opinion on something you do not know personally because sometimes reality can contradict what the images assure.
I have known and admired the work of Michèle & Miquel since their first works in Cap Roig and I have regularly followed their career, not only for their work in public spaces but also for their few but interesting building projects. Therefore, in the case of the project "The Dark Line" that they have designed in Taiwan, I think I can allow myself to make an exception and talk about it, even if only briefly...
4. Dark Line. Mind the gap by Françoise Crémel
Overall here is strength, the boards resist; met the lure of the project, they lie in bed with each stride. Never so firm, the promise remains fleeting; take the path, light the way, contain the overflow, the hazards in disarray shatter over and over. Organize the clutter. Traversing the mountains, crossing the ditches, leveling the flux, all this is to invent an open wound over a patches of uneven ground, what a trap!...
5. Weaving Atmospheres by Ioanna Spannou
I haven't visited Dark Line, I've never been to Taiwan.
Still. But I've thought about it a lot... And I keep thinking about how it would make me feel. Thinking and feeling. This constant coming and going between emotions and interpretations activates a series of thoughts that could be summarized in a single conceptualization of the Dark Line as a sequence of interwoven atmospheres. And the line is both the thread and the needle...
6. The Dark Line, a sublime monument by Eric Alonzo
In northern Taiwan, between two deep valleys, Japanese engineers built a nearly three-and-a-half kilometre stretch of railway between 1919 and 1922 in the steep foothills of the Hsueh Shan mountain range. A line connecting the cities of Mudan and Sandiaoling with a railway network intended to transport coal to the main ports of Keelung and Taipei. To draw an almost horizontal line in this marked relief, three successive works were built: the Sandiaoling tunnel, the Sanzhuazi tunnel and the bridge that crosses the Keelung River...
7. The Dark Line: illuminating the unseen by Scott Hawken
In 2023, landscape architects from around the world joined the UNEARTH festival of landscape architecture held in Adelaide, Australia. The conference considered unseen landscapes below the Earth's crust; both hidden from physical gazes and beyond the margins of our imaginations. This complex world below the Earth's surface, part mineral, part organic, part water, and part air, was reflected upon and discussed by a range of thinkers across science, arts, and cultural realms. Michèle & Miquel were invited to conclude the conference by the creative directors with a presentation on their superlative work now known as "The Dark Line." To my delight, the designers of The Dark Line, Michèle & Miquel, agreed to present their work at the conference in person, providing insight into the creative minds that shaped this project...
8. Interview with Michèle and Miquel by José Moreno and Raquel Altares
Established in 1996, architecture studio Michéle Orliac and Miquel Batlle is a space of exploration and creation that immerses and hybridizes its work between the natural and the urban, carefully intertwining the threads of architecture, urbanism and landscaping. In each project his vision transcends limits, fusing the city with nature, resulting in an architecture that dialogues with the landscape...
9. The Dark Line by Michèle & Miquel and da VISION DESIGN
The architecture and urbanism studio Michèle & Miquel, together with dA VISION DESIGN, has designed a route in the heart of a mountainous region between Taipei and Yan, in eastern Taiwan. This region has been crossed by various routes throughout history. The last ones, built at the beginning of the 20th century, were the roads and railway lines that connected the coal industry. When the mines closed at the turn of the century, the railway was abandoned...
We are honoured to proclaim “The Dark Line” by Michèle Orliac, and Miquel Batlle with the collaboration of Chung-Hsun Wu as METALOCUS Building of the Year 2023, an action with which we highlight the best architecture of the moment, as well as its authors and teams involved, either participating, helping or collaborating in the most outstanding architectural creation...
2. Listening to Nan Shan, Zen master by Philippe Bonnin
In the book that recounts the teachings of Nan Shan, a Zen master who dedicated himself to placing stones and planting bamboo, he says that when starting a landscaping project (in Japanese: Sansui 山水 -mountain and water), a garden project, although the terrain is flat, neutral, without anything notable that can be highlighted, or put into value, the true gardener must know how to pick up the slightest clue, know how to read the slightest trace, both in the indicated area and outside where these clouds come from, these winds, these rains, these lights, these sounds, these memories...
3. Noli me Tangere (Do not touch me) by Joan Roig
I usually do not speak or write about a work that I do not know personally, mainly out of caution, but also out of modesty. It is difficult to venture an opinion on something you do not know personally because sometimes reality can contradict what the images assure.
I have known and admired the work of Michèle & Miquel since their first works in Cap Roig and I have regularly followed their career, not only for their work in public spaces but also for their few but interesting building projects. Therefore, in the case of the project "The Dark Line" that they have designed in Taiwan, I think I can allow myself to make an exception and talk about it, even if only briefly...
4. Dark Line. Mind the gap by Françoise Crémel
Overall here is strength, the boards resist; met the lure of the project, they lie in bed with each stride. Never so firm, the promise remains fleeting; take the path, light the way, contain the overflow, the hazards in disarray shatter over and over. Organize the clutter. Traversing the mountains, crossing the ditches, leveling the flux, all this is to invent an open wound over a patches of uneven ground, what a trap!...
5. Weaving Atmospheres by Ioanna Spannou
I haven't visited Dark Line, I've never been to Taiwan.
Still. But I've thought about it a lot... And I keep thinking about how it would make me feel. Thinking and feeling. This constant coming and going between emotions and interpretations activates a series of thoughts that could be summarized in a single conceptualization of the Dark Line as a sequence of interwoven atmospheres. And the line is both the thread and the needle...
6. The Dark Line, a sublime monument by Eric Alonzo
In northern Taiwan, between two deep valleys, Japanese engineers built a nearly three-and-a-half kilometre stretch of railway between 1919 and 1922 in the steep foothills of the Hsueh Shan mountain range. A line connecting the cities of Mudan and Sandiaoling with a railway network intended to transport coal to the main ports of Keelung and Taipei. To draw an almost horizontal line in this marked relief, three successive works were built: the Sandiaoling tunnel, the Sanzhuazi tunnel and the bridge that crosses the Keelung River...
7. The Dark Line: illuminating the unseen by Scott Hawken
In 2023, landscape architects from around the world joined the UNEARTH festival of landscape architecture held in Adelaide, Australia. The conference considered unseen landscapes below the Earth's crust; both hidden from physical gazes and beyond the margins of our imaginations. This complex world below the Earth's surface, part mineral, part organic, part water, and part air, was reflected upon and discussed by a range of thinkers across science, arts, and cultural realms. Michèle & Miquel were invited to conclude the conference by the creative directors with a presentation on their superlative work now known as "The Dark Line." To my delight, the designers of The Dark Line, Michèle & Miquel, agreed to present their work at the conference in person, providing insight into the creative minds that shaped this project...
8. Interview with Michèle and Miquel by José Moreno and Raquel Altares
Established in 1996, architecture studio Michéle Orliac and Miquel Batlle is a space of exploration and creation that immerses and hybridizes its work between the natural and the urban, carefully intertwining the threads of architecture, urbanism and landscaping. In each project his vision transcends limits, fusing the city with nature, resulting in an architecture that dialogues with the landscape...
9. The Dark Line by Michèle & Miquel and da VISION DESIGN
The architecture and urbanism studio Michèle & Miquel, together with dA VISION DESIGN, has designed a route in the heart of a mountainous region between Taipei and Yan, in eastern Taiwan. This region has been crossed by various routes throughout history. The last ones, built at the beginning of the 20th century, were the roads and railway lines that connected the coal industry. When the mines closed at the turn of the century, the railway was abandoned...
![Detailed plan and profiles of the works done from the Bertier ravine at the entrance to the Roches de Pierre-Aiguille to Thein [Tain-l'Hermitage], Atlas of Trudaine for the generality of Lyon, Grande route from Paris to Lyon , Route de Lyon in Provence and Languedoc, 1745‑1780.](/sites/default/files/metalocus_the-dark-line_26.jpg "Detailed plan and profiles of the works done from the Bertier ravine at the entrance to the Roches de Pierre-Aiguille to Thein [Tain-l'Hermitage], Atlas of Trudaine for the generality of Lyon, Grande route from Paris to Lyon , Route de Lyon in Provence and Languedoc, 1745‑1780.")
