An evolving Green City

Text and photos by Taichung City Goverment
Translated by Angel Pu

Taichung and all of Taiwan can look forward to the planned 390-meter-high Taiwan Tower, which resembles a luxuriant tree. This eco-friendly "green building" will be located in the Taichung Gateway Park and is undoubtedly destined to become a new Taichung landmark, providing panoramic views from its top of not only the city but also the Taiwan Strait and Central Mountain Range.

In a hand-drawn "Floating Observatories" sketch of the tower by Romanian architect Stefan Dorin, we can see the most unusual feature of this structure--its movable observatories. These are like airships, slowly taking visitors up and down in a way that feels like one is soaring up into the air. During typhoons or other emergencies, the observatories can be stored in the base. The whole tower also uses solar energy and a rainwater-collection system to underline its "green" emphasis and harmony with nature. Already, the UK Daily Post newspaper has compared the Taiwan Tower with zero-carbon Masdar City in Abu Dhabi and Japan's Shimizu Mega-City Pyramid, and these three projects will be milestones for green cities of the future.

Although the tower's construction budget will exceed NT$6 billion and its construction will be very complex, the Taichung city government anticipates that it will be Taipei 101-like landmark that will help to promote international tourism in the city. Plans call for construction to begin in the Taichung Gateway Park in 2013.

The Taichung Gateway Park project itself revolves around its large-scale park, "college city", convention center and dome, and will cover a total land area of 54 hectares, with a twisting core of green area winding through it. It will also contain the Taiwan Tower, Taichung Gateway Park Development Vision Building, a library, art museum, and a science museum celebrating the Republic of China's 100th birthday. The big planned convention center will be able to accomodate 5,000 exhibition booths while the dome will have a 15,000-person seating capacity. With the addition of a transit center, shopping mall, financial center and international hotels, the total investment in this project is projected to exceed NT$100 billion. However, its completion will help usher Taichung city into the ranks of the world's large international metropolises.