TAIPEI, TAIWAN
44 SOUTH VILLAGE
- MARKETS :
- Sustainable Engineering
- SERVICES :
- Architecture & Planning
Environmental Engineering
- SCOPE OF WORK :
- Landscape Design
A piece of history in the heart of Taipei
SURV, MAA’s associated architecture and planning firm, was asked to design an urban plaza and a museum on the history and culture of the 44 South Village (44SV), now located in Xinyi District near Taipei 101. This 0.5 ha site was the first military housing compound in Taiwan created for Kuomintang soldiers and their families after they arrived from Mainland China in 1949.
A living space of memory
While some buildings were restored and kept in their original form, most of them were too dilapidated to be kept as such and had to be torn down. The park project walks a fine line with this still recent and politically sensitive memory and with the balance between preserving a memory without relics and creating a space which can be used by modern Taipei residents. It strives both to preserve the shape of the development through the ground level outlines of the former roofs and a distinction between male spaces (formal gathering areas), female spaces (intimate social spaces in the narrow inner alleys) and children spaces (network of playing spots throughout 44SV and its surrounding area); and to transform it, with the transformation of the “roofscape” into a grass-covered garden. The remaining buildings of 44 South Village are now used by cafes, artists and arts and crafts shops, while the adjacent park is a popular destination for Taipei residents.
Scope of work
- Landscape Design
