Experiencing urban development in Taipei

Taipei City is a direct-controlled municipality of the Taiwanese government, and with a population of approximately 2.7 million, it is roughly the same size as Osaka City. The history of the city began with development around Taipei Station, located on the west side of the city, and then the wave of development moved to the Xinyi District, whose urban planning was based on the Shinjuku subcenter. In 2004, Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world at the time, was completed, accelerating the development of the Xinyi District. Currently, the development area is spreading further eastwards to the Nangang District, where the starting station for the Shinkansen is located. In front of Nangang Station, our company has just begun designing a complex with a total floor area of approximately 380,000 m2, which will serve as the new gateway to the Nangang District and will include convention, commercial, office and residential facilities.

The master plan for Xinyi District was formulated in the 1970s with the involvement of Taipei native Kuo Maolin. Kuo is an architect and urban planner who has also participated in the planning of the Kasumigaseki Building, the World Trade Center Building in Hamamatsucho, and Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro in Japan. In cooperation with the city, he established a U-shaped pedestrian amenity axis surrounding Taipei City Hall in Xinyi District, proposing an urban design that separates pedestrians and vehicles. Even today, department stores, movie theaters, and restaurants line this pedestrian axis, making it one of the busiest areas in Taiwan. Taipei Nanshan Plaza is located at the junction of this pedestrian axis, so the exterior, facility layout, and plaza design were determined from a city-level perspective. I believe that this project has realized to some extent the ideals that were in place at the time the master plan was formulated.

Taipei Nanshan Plaza was constructed by the largest local general contractor, but construction signs bearing the names of Japanese construction companies are often seen in important projects in the city center. Even just looking at the Xinyi District, there are many buildings constructed by major Japanese general contractors, starting with Taipei 101 in the past, and including the recently completed Taipei Cultural and Creative Building (designed by Toyo Ito), the Breeze Shopping Center, and ultra-luxury apartment buildings with distinctive spiral exteriors. Local building regulations are based on the Japanese Building Standards Act, and local general contractors have apparently received technical cooperation from Japanese construction companies in the past, so Japanese-style construction methods have taken root. In addition, the quality of Japanese building materials is highly regarded locally, and many Japanese products have been used in Taipei Nanshan Plaza, from facade sashes, exterior tiles, double-deck elevators, to sanitary fixtures in the toilets.

Taiwan is a pro-Japan country, and there are many Japanese convenience stores and restaurants, and you can often see Japanese signs in the streets. A distinctive feature of walking around the city is the arcade called "Qi-lou," which is similar to the snow-proof ganbo-zukuri buildings seen in Niigata's shopping streets, and is convenient because the buildings along the sidewalk are lined up one after the other, allowing you to walk without an umbrella. According to statistics from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau and Taiwan Tourism Association, Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications, about 4.62 million Taiwanese people visited Japan in 2017, while about 1.9 million Japanese people visited Taiwan. It's a little further than Okinawa, so you can enjoy it even on a weekend trip. If you haven't been there yet, we recommend that you go and experience Taiwan's culture, people, architecture, food, and hot springs. The grand fireworks launched from Taipei 101 during the year-end countdown are a Taipei tradition. Why not welcome the new year at Taipei Nanshan Plaza where you can see them up close?