|Taichung Gateway Park International Competition
This proposal is for Taichung Gateway Park competition, the central public space of the new Taichung Gateway City development.
Taiwan sits among some of the most ecologically rich and diverse atoll reef ecosystems on Earth. These “rainforests of the sea” constitute one-tenth of the ocean surface yet provide for twenty-five percent of all marine life. Extremely sensitive to environmental pollution, these sentinel habitats are chief indicators for changes in local and global environmental health.
While Taiwan is among one of the wettest places in the world, it suffers from extended periods of drought. The atoll, which is comprised of reef and lagoon, is used as an analog for developing the topography and hydrology of the site in order to manage Taichung’s environmental volatility, which is increasing due to rapid urbanization and global warming. The ‘reef‘ acts as the primary structure to organize circulation (people, cars, bikes), program (forests and occasionally flood fields), and water (pathway channels and constructed wetlands). These areas comprise the more managed and maintained areas of the park. This reef frames a series of dispersed, circular low-lying ‘lagoons’ that index and adapt to environmental instabilities.
These lagoon figures can be taken “off-line” in terms of maintenance, in case of financial shortfalls or, alternatively, provide space for temporary events, such as inundation by water or people. The material/activity cycles of the ‘reef‘ are juxtaposed to the material/activity cycles of the ‘lagoon‘; they are seen in direct contrast to each other and are perceptibly distinct at the experiential scale. There is regularity in the relationship among reef elements (higher forested ground, constructed wetland, occasionally flooded field) and the more volatile depressions of the lagoon circles. It is the repetition of these relationships across the entire park that makes legible the tiered structure of the park and its connection to water flow, flooding and drought. The pattern of the fabricated atoll is used to make the less predictable environmental patterns of the site visible.
Taichung Gateway Park ni moja ya maeneo ya kimataifa ya Taichung Gateway Park, ambayo ni sehemu ya Taichung Gateway City. Taiwan iko miongoni mwa baadhi ya mazingira yenye utajiri mkubwa wa ikolojia na tofauti zaidi duniani. "Mituni hiyo ya mvua ya baharini" hufanyiza sehemu ya kumi ya uso wa bahari lakini huandaa asilimia ishirini na tano ya uhai wote wa baharini. Kwa kuwa ni hatari sana kwa uchafuzi wa mazingira, maeneo hayo ni ishara kuu ya mabadiliko katika mazingira ya eneo hilo na ulimwenguni pote. Ingawa Taiwan ni mojawapo ya maeneo yenye mvua nyingi zaidi ulimwenguni, ina magonjwa ya ukame kwa muda mrefu. Atoll, ambayo inajumuisha mwamba na ziwa, hutumiwa kama mfano wa kuendeleza topografia na hydrology ya tovuti ili kusimamia kutofautiana kwa mazingira ya Taichung, ambayo inaongezeka kwa sababu ya mijini ya haraka na joto la dunia. "Rif" hufanya kazi kama muundo wa msingi wa kuandaa mzunguko (watu, magari, baiskeli), programu (misitu na mara kwa mara mashamba ya mafuriko), na maji (mfereji wa njia na maeneo ya mvua yaliyojengwa). Maeneo haya yanajumuisha maeneo ya mbuga ambayo yanasimamiwa na kudumishwa zaidi. Mwamba huu hufanyiza mfululizo wa "ziwa" zilizo chini, zenye umbo la mviringo, ambazo huonyesha na kukabiliana na ukosefu wa utulivu wa mazingira. Takwimu hizi za lagoon zinaweza kuchukuliwa "off-line" katika suala la matengenezo, katika kesi ya upungufu wa kifedha au, kwa njia mbadala, kutoa nafasi kwa matukio ya muda, kama vile mafuriko na maji au watu. Mzunguko wa vifaa vya "reef" ni juxtaposed kwa mzunguko wa vifaa vya "lagoon"; wao ni kuonekana katika tofauti ya moja kwa moja na ni tofauti perceptibly katika kiwango cha uzoefu. Kuna uhusiano wa kawaida kati ya vipengele vya matumbawe (maeneo ya juu yenye misitu, maeneo ya mvua yaliyojengwa, mashamba ya maji mara kwa mara) na maporomoko ya mviringo ya ziwa. Ni kurudia kwa mahusiano haya katika mbuga nzima ambayo hufanya muundo wa ngazi ya mbuga na uhusiano wake na mtiririko wa maji, mafuriko na ukame. Mfano wa atoll iliyoundwa hutumiwa kufanya mifumo ya mazingira isiyoweza kutabiriwa ya tovuti hiyo ionekane.