Taichung Gateway Park Master Plan

a 68-hectare Eco-Park that replaces the old airport and will shape the future of Taichung’s urban landscape

Shuinan Airport, Taichung, Taiwan

2011

The site of the decommissioned Taichung Shuinan Airport is turned into an urban park. The Gateway Park is the most important development in Taichung City, where the scope is to breathe life into the former airport site. The Park plays an important role in providing a new habitat for species of fauna on the verge of extinction. This will provide added value to the park and the city residents, magnified by the creation of Nature Pavilions and Point Lookouts, from which citizens can observe wildlife in its protected environment as they go about their life. The Taichung Gateway Park is planned to become an Urban Oasis setting new themes, celebrating a new lifestyle, innovation, a center for cultural revival, and a pole of attraction to the world, projecting the image of Taichung and Taiwan in the global community.

As part of this masterplan, we took care to design and integrate all the future infrastructure in the area: the Entrance to the Gateway Park, a Rapid Train / Metro Station and Bus Terminal, the Expo / Convention Center, a Prototype Residential Eco-District, Malls and Luxury hotels in the Gateway District Interface, libraries, the Movie City Complex, the Open Moon-gazing Amphitheater, a Landscaped Butterfly Overpass, and the Taiwan Tower.

The northernmost lot is isolated from the rest of the park by two roads and the Gangwei River. In order to create a seamless transition throughout the Gateway Park, we lowered Liming Road, channeled the river into a tunnel, and raised the park grade, achieving no disruption in the neighborhood traffic pattern and space for a large underground garage. The Gateway building is a simple, crisp, abstract dragon, symbol of good luck and strength, resting on a reflecting pool. Visitors enter through the great arch, walking on a double passageway leading them over the river, creating a memorable entrance to the Park.

The Movie City Center is a venue to the dynamic and influential film and television industry in Central Taiwan. Its main entrance is from the east side of Park 139 and extends over Park Avenue 2 with an overpass. It houses movie studios, 3D theaters, and exhibition centers for the history of movie making. Near the Movie City is the Open Air Amphitheater.

Vegetation of different color planted to form a large strip where the old runway was located, provides a subtle and classy remembrance of the old airport. A sculpture of a stylized airplane eternally taking off, symbolically links the venerated past of the Shuinan Airport with the aspirations of the new Taichung going Global message. Bike Trails crisscross the entire Park, allowing bikers to select the path of his preference. All routes are adorned with resting and refreshment areas. Slow and leisurely trails give off to side forks taking the rider to more challenging paths with steeper slopes, and different scenic routes.

The Park is a closed sustainable, eco-friendly system, producing its own energy, and having a zero-waste footprint. The Storm Water management system that we designed is capable of storing the entire amount of runoff generated on site, even in a typhoon event, without allowing for any overflow in the South Creek and in Gangwei River.

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