The XX
Scroll to explore
A spatial interruption that inserts slowness and ambiguity into a hyper-controlled transit system using symbolic coding as architectural language.
Concept
The project references the Dabawala lunchbox delivery system in Mumbai, where a coded symbol system maps city movement without written language. Translating this logic to Taipei Main Station — an environment dominated by signage, control, and efficiency — the project imagines symbols reintroduced not for clarity, but for productive confusion. Instead of guiding commuters, the symbols misalign instruction and space, opening cracks within a space defined by order.
Spatial & System Strategy
Three layers of disturbance are introduced:
At ground level, symbols distort directional logic, causing minor hesitation in commuter movement.
At B1, circulation is rerouted through unexpected detours, creating loops instead of direct paths.
At B2, sensory interruption (smell and thermal humidity) from a hot spring bath disrupts the sterile atmosphere of transit.
By overlaying a slow ritual (bathing) onto a fast ritual (commuting), the project creates a temporal collision between urgency and stillness.
Symbolic & Circulation
Symbols are not used for navigation — they become architectural friction. The hot spring is not placed as a wellness facility but as an impossible insertion, a program that should not exist within a transit hub. Through this contradiction, the project challenges architecture's role in maintaining control. Circulation is deliberately misaligned with signage, forcing users into a state of spatial uncertainty — a delay that becomes architectural content.
Outcomes
The work reveals how non-functional elements can disrupt the dominant logic of infrastructure. Instead of optimizing circulation, the project proposes meaningful inefficiency, suggesting that architecture has the agency to slow, confuse, and provoke. By inserting ritual into routine, it questions how much space is left for ambiguity, ritual, and sensory experience within modern transit architecture.
