Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Ager Group
Post By:Kitticoon Poopong
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Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Aerial view of the competition-winning Kaohsiung Port Station concept by AGER Group |
AGER Group’s Boston Studio won an Excellence Award winning first prize for the Kaohsiung Port Station
Urban Design competition initiated by the
Urban Development Bureau of the Kaohsiung City Government in
Taiwan.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Perspective, north, rail |
Project Description by the Architects:
The 15.42 hectare site is located between the
Hamasen and Yenchen historic commercial centers of the 1920’s and 40’s and at the intersection of three of Kaohsiung’s thriving neighborhoods home of the recent Maritime Music Center and Port Terminal competitions. The competition aimed at transforming the historic
rail yard and port station into a new city destination, creating a progressive model for local
urban renewal. The competition’s dual goals of cultural preservation and urban development are achieved in AGER’s proposal through a three phased development.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Perspective, pond |
Phase One:
In phase one, AGER proposed three strategies to establish a new identity for the project. They include developing a transportation and industry museum, preserving key portions of the railway for public and special event use, and transforming other portions of the rail yard into an art exhibit/market and rail-scape park corridor. The corridor would be animated with outdoor sculpture, restaurants and retail in specially re-designed rail-cars, and the former sugar warehouses renovated into creative industry lofts.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Perspective, museum park |
Phase Two:
In phase two, an iconic luxury hotel with conference center and executive apartments to be designed by a signature architect is proposed to attract additional visitors to the rail-scape park corridor development and transportation and industry museum. This iconic building would aim to bring additional recognition to the project and with it, investors to phase three of the project.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Perspective, corridor |
Phase Three:
Phase three of the project, which lies at the north end of the site, is most intimately connected to the adjacent historic Hamasen urban fabric district. Consequently, Ager proposed a series of high-density mixed use residential buildings based on the Southeast Asian shophouse typology found in the Hamasen district and a high end commercial complex with public corridors and civic spaces that becomes the new hub to help bring together the existing neighborhoods.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Perspective, path |
Complimenting this three phased approach, AGER studied the economic trends of domestic consumer market growth, office and retail demand, housing demand, and the expected growth of Taiwan’s tourism industry to propose a financially feasible design. Integrated in the study, was consideration of the brownfield soil conditions, building re-use, and disaster resilience to help form a sustainable strategy for the project over time.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Site plan |
Instead of developing a final picture or finished master plan with a predetermined end result for the project, AGER’s phased strategy for the re-use of the existing rail infrastructure used a variety of components (rail, walk, wall, ramp, plaza, building, program platform/ stage, landform, planting) to direct and capture the diverse forces and flows within the site to create flexible conditions for future events and program. The seemless relationship between landscape, architecture, and infrastructure allows for an increased level of habitation, protected circulation, and incremental response to a variety of weather conditions.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--section A |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--section B |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--section C |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--section D |
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Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--section E
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In particular the park corridor, the central network for movement in the project, is designed to encourage communication, exchange, and thus be adaptable over time based on behaviour and performance. It is the central stage for a series of events that are not pre-determined but rather catalyzed and amplified by the intersection of territory, varying intensities of activity and speeds of progression. From the point of view of the visitor this is a constantly shifting layered experience coordinated with their own movement.
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--concept diagram |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Diagram, program and phasing |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Diagram, program development |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--progression diagram |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--Diagram, site plan axo + detail |
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| Image © Courtesy of Ager Group--vertical zone diagram |
The people
Architects: Ager Group
Location: Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Project Area: 15.42 hectare
Images: © Courtesy of Ager Group
Note>>Location in this map, It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
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