Despite unique climate challenges in the city of Keelung, Taiwan, the design for the Joint Office Building and Passenger & Cargo Terminal by de Architekten Cie. is an example of how one can naturally ventilate the building during the winter and shoulder seasons. This ambition reduces the energy consumption of the building dramatically and increases thermal comfort and delight. More images and architects’ description after the break.

Keelung has a fairly unique climate which combines the extreme humidity and heat of the tropics with the high winds and rain of the typhoon corridor which follows of the coast of the Asian continent. The result is perhaps one of the most difficult climates to build naturally ventilated and energy efficient buildings.