Text 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.

I refer to the atmosphere as the result of a pre-reflective, as yet unarticulated, self-awareness that activates a state of bodily awareness. The atmosphere holds attention and grounds perception in a particular place at a particular time.
I believe that in the case of The Dark Line, bodily awareness is activated by the delicacy of the project, which insinuates rather than affirms a primary metaphor: the railroad, through a configuration of embodied experience that recovers the meaning of this primary metaphor at different scales of interpretation.

On a large scale, the railroad is a line that connects different places in the landscape. This is what happens in this project: The Dark Line takes us through a concatenation of places. But it does more than that: it leads us through and inward: along its path, the line guides movement and gaze through the different episodes of the landscape and, as it unfolds, simultaneously places the body in each of them.

At the scale of the body, the line also underscores the atmosphere of each place: the project evolves the rails from a two-dimensional surface to an enveloping section. The section now forms a basic spatial pattern that folds and unfolds to adjust and adapt to the peculiarities of the landscape it encounters.


The Dark Line by Michèle & Miquel and dA VISION DESIGN. Photograph by LU Yu-Jui.

On the close scale of perception, the materiality of iron reconnects us to the primary metaphor, the rail, through its minimal expression, the rods, multiplied to infinity. The circle is now complete. Suddenly everything makes sense, on all scales simultaneously. The track becomes a spatial and material metaphor.

This particular spatial narrative applies rules that derive from both discursive and presence symbolism. To use Susanne Langer's definition (Langer 1985:102):
 
"The meanings given by language are successively understood and brought together into a whole by the process called discourse... the meanings of the remaining symbolic elements that make up a larger articulated symbol are understood only through the meaning of the whole, through their relationship within the overall structure. Their very function as symbols depends on their being involved in a simultaneous and integral representation. This type of semantics may be called "presence symbolism".


The Dark Line by Michèle & Miquel and dA VISION DESIGN. Photograph by dA VISION.

The Dark Line makes sense simultaneously through the sequence of places it connects, as in a discourse, and through the embodied experience it configures in place, as in a simultaneous integral presentation. The logical, metaphorical, and embodied meanings are intertwined, and the project keeps them in constant tension.

At the other end of the line, a series of "punctuation marks" activate perceptual attention. To name a few: The variable distance between the iron bars provides safety, but also reminds us of the distance to the rocky ground and emphasizes the sensation of floating on the cliff; the water mirrors as a means of capturing light, reflecting and multiplying the environment and accentuating its presence; the carefully orchestrated paintings at the end of the tunnels, where the darkness encourages a delicate manipulation of what is seen and what is expected.

These project gestures keep the senses awake and reemphasize the primary properties of the rain trail as such, imprinted on the intrinsic properties of the landscape. The line is thus woven into the landscape, iron bar by iron bar, in a selective act of integration with interspersed ways of selectively adapting, denoting, and magnifying the properties of the landscape. So be it.
 
Text by Ioanna Spannou

More information

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Architects
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Michèle & Miquel. Lead architects.-  Michèle Orliac, Miquel Batlle.
Landscape architect.- Da Vision Design. Chung-Hsun Wu.
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Location
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Taiwan, Sandiaoling - Ruifang District, New Taipei City. Republic of China.
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Photography
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LU Yu-Jui, Michèle & Miquel.
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Ioanna Spannou is a Doctor of Architecture, Associate Professor at the Department of Urban Planning, Territory and Landscape at ETSAB. She is Director of the Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape Area of the Barcelona Regional, Urban Development Agency.

Her current research focuses on cartography as a tool that interprets reality and generates the reconfiguration of the metropolitan landscape.
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Michèle & Miquel is an architecture urbanism and landscape atelier, based in Barcelona, Spain and Toulouse, Francia. It was founded in 1996 by Michèle Orliac and Miquel Batlle.

The team take part in the development of public spaces, urban facilities, strategic points, urban peculiar situations…etc. The philosophy of their work lies in the relationship between the city, architecture and nature, urban planning and landscape architecture and the articulation of different scales: from territorial scale to detail.

Throughout the professional life of the study, many projects have been developed in different topics such as Public spaces and urban facilities (Hortus wineries in Valflaunes, Wallon Marcadau refuge in the National Park of Pyrenees, or the canopies in Vieux Boucau); Director plan of public spaces (Director plan beach in VIEUX BOUCAU in the Atlantic Ocean).

Many projects have been recognized in national and international awards including:

By The Dark Line: AFEX Award 2023 (FR), BEAU XVI Award (ESP), Landezine International Landscape Award 2023, Arquin fad 2023 (ESP), IFLA ASIA PAC Excellence Award 2023, Architettura LOVERS il Premio 2023 (ITA), INT. design Grand Prix du Design paysage & territoires 2023, (CAN), WLA Merit Award Winner 2023, Taiwan Environment Lighting 2023, Building of the Year METALOCUS 2023 (ESP).
 
Award, The 7th Taiwan Landscape 2019.
First prize in the FAD 2017 award. International category with the project Le Jardin NIEL in TOULOUSE, France.
Selected in the international Mies van der Rohe 2017 award with the project Winery in Montpellier, France.
First prize in the FAD 2011 award, landscape and city category, with de project Aigües Park in Figueres, Spain.
First prize in the Trophées de l’aménagement Urbain award three times: at Pams Port Street in Vendres, France; at the ARLES SUR TECH square, France; and at the fairground in Treffort, France.
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dA VISION DESIGN is an architecture studio founded by Chung-Hsun Wu that offers comprehensive consulting services in urban design and landscape architecture. The team combines experiences in landscape architecture, architecture, urban design and urban planning. Passion for space, environment and people resonates within the team, influencing their work, values and professional approaches. With a reserve of optimism and professional skills, they skillfully tailor their services to precisely meet client needs.

​The core value of dA VISION DESIGN is to systematically apply site analysis, sensitively coordinate spatial and functional elements, and then seamlessly integrate them with construction knowledge to formulate holistic design alternatives. Their unwavering commitment includes providing meticulous attention and engaging in innovative problem solving, infusing each project with unique aspects and motivations.
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