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Construction in 1937—Three-span Silo

Introduction of the architecture
        The three-span silo was built in 1937, and was used for storage of hulk paddy rice. Its pillars were made of RC and its walls were made of brick. Each building is 100 pings in area. However after restoration, the three buildings were combined through the unification of the roofs. The whole architecture was designed by the idea of the Subtractive Method. Opening windows were added to the roof and outer walls of the architecture which allow penetration of light to the space. Hence, transform the closed space into open space.

       After the restoration of 2003, the structure of the roof, the steelwork and the glass curtains brought the three buildings into one which gave the architecture its own uniqueness.
 

Old Memories
Outer appearance of the Three-span silo.	Three buildings transformed into one.

Moisture Proof System
Three-span silo has two types of moisture proof system
 

1. Moisture control:

        A bamboo strip tube is erected in the silo through an opening on the roof , of which moisture is directed out of the silo through a vent on the roof.

        Before the restoration, due northeast monsoon the silo entrances were sent in the south. The rice paddies were put into sacks and stacked up like a wall with staircases at the entrance. The workers then pour the paddy down into the silo from above

Bamboo strip tube (lower left corner), now acts as a decorative truss	Square ventilation opening on the roof top.

 
 2. Indoor temperature control:
        The walls were made of a type of bamboo called “komaikabe”. The 1/4 komaikabe bamboo piece and mawatashi bamboo tubes were tied together to make the komaikabe foundation. Gaps in the foundation were filled with arakabetsuchi mud which made it into an arakabe wall. A coat of two parts and was plastered to the wall. Then a last coat of ocher and color sand was added to complete the wall. A wall made in such Japanese traditional technique is called the “komaikabe wall”.

“komaikabe wall” Outside

“komaikabe wall” Start from the outer layer in: cross cut fir, woven bamboo fence, bamboo wattle and daub, middle density fiber, wooden board, wooden block, brick RC pillar

Special Design

There are interlayers in the silo to increase usable space.

Herringbone beam and central column is screwed together with iron and bolt. The slanted supports and suspended columns were bolt in place with leech nails.

[References]

Changhua County Cultural Affairs Bureau, Guide to Fuxing Silo, 2008.

[Photos]
Taken by Grain Head Team.