Urban Design
Kaohsiung Port Station area has been designated as one of the benchmark projects for national urban renewal by the Executive Yuan. Urban renewal should not be confined to the conventional notions of “tear down” and “rebuild.” It should take into consideration the local anthropogeography and take up the missions of cultural preservation and urban redevelopment. It should energize land redevelopment with a brand-new perspective and provides a venue for invigorating the industries, preserving the cultural heritage, and experiencing the railway culture. A urban design proposal should reflect the track of Kaohsiung harbor city development and embrace the ambitions of promoting the redevelopment of old downtown districts, Gushan and Yancheng, where the Station is located. Hence, the urban design proposal should at least meet the following requirements:
Innovative ideas for preserving and revitalizing railway cultural heritage
In light of the historical significance and value of Kaohsiung Port Station, the City Government has registered the railway assets of the Station under the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act and will preserve the railway culture by, for example, delineating public facilities, building setbacks, concentrated reserve of vacant lots, and co-construction, and considering the possibility of recommencing train service and restoring the already demolished railway facilities. All these requisites have been explicitly prescribed in the urban plan. Therefore, all possibilities for preserving and revitalizing the cultural assets of the Kaohsiung Port Station and in the area where the Station is located should be channeled into urban design ideas to create asset revitalization and industrial activities, so that a win-win situation that pays tribute to history and culture while offering citizens a satisfactory experience could be achieved.
Flexible and staged development
The area surrounding Kaohsiung Port Station has been carved into renewal parcels and defined in the urban renewal plan. Urban design and future development of the whole area should adopt a strategy of staged development to accommodate the flexibility of integrated or independent development of each parcel, while taking into consideration the needs related to future activities and usage.
Ecological sustainability
The urban design proposal should give consideration to the special climate and environmental conditions of southern Taiwan where Kaohsiung is located. Buildings and facilities in the area should employ the concepts and methods of low-energy consumption and environmentally friendly energy production (e.g. solar power) and designs as much as possible to create more green space and build an ecologically sustainable urban environment.
Developmental theme and financial feasibility
The redevelopment of Kaohsiung Port Station will serve the functions and the role of driving the revival of the locality. The current trend around the world is to capitalize on the economic value of cultural assets and turn cultural assets into cultural industries and an integral part of the city economy. Such approach will not only benefit the residents and the competitiveness of the locality, but also create value of the cultural assets. So the urban design proposal should elaborate the viable themes and the content of development and fully reflect the market needs and financial feasibility to achieve sustainable development.
Alignment with urban plan
The proposal for land development and architectural design should conform to the relevant zoning control and urban design directives in the publicly announced urban plan, and comply with the intensity and nature of the land use as well as regulations on the preservation of railway culture. However, on the premise of cultural preservation and financial feasibility, creative urban design ideas are encouraged.
Design Site
The Design Site area is 15.42 hectares that is bounded on the north by Wufu Road, Gushan 1st Road on the west, and the railway on the south, and neighbors the old Yancheng community on the east.
Linear Mode
