CHIA-WEI HUNG PORTFOLIO 2013-2019

The Lost Beauty of The City

2016. Graduation Thesis Project

OO1 CITY PROJECTION

“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.”

― Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

Architecture demonstrates the thoughts and values of decision-makers. In modern society, economic development seems to be the only prize people are chasing. Yet, by doing this, too much has been lost.

Capitalistic societies bloom homogeneity. Gradually, people lose a part of themselves and forget how to live with spirit. For most people, the port of Keelung, Taiwan’s key port city, has a feeling of being grim and unapproachable, a tricky and oversized urbanscape. Keelung, was a city built to support others, to create a great amount of business. The hyper-focus on business led to the diminishment of public spaces in the city.

This project aimed to reflect and question the development of the modern city. I tried to create this kind of space, feeling consumed with the desire of the city in a dream. My vision was to deconstruct the city, to show its invisible side. In its reconstruction, the interaction among people, the environment, and the city would be most important. Lastly, dreamer as a revealer, audience as a participant, roaming from one perspective of this city to another.....

I am sinking in the ocean, up and down, watching people enjoy the sunlight, the warmth, and the wind......

03:01 am The port comes to life, sound and light penetrate the window reflecting on my face. I am a little dizzy......I am awake, the city is awake.

Keelung

THE RULES

In order to build up an efficient city system, the government used to set the rules. It was necessary to erase the original framework of the city to build new rules. In doing so, they blocked out the memories and stories of the locals. In my observation, today, Keelung no longer generates prosperity. What did that order actually mean in this now empty city? There are a lot of boundaries blocking the freedom to move.

There are two kinds of desire- the government’s and the people's. However, the former presides over the latter.

I am recalling the city I lived in, the artificial barriers that occupied public spaces. A lot of structures crisscrossing through oceans and mountains.

Still half asleep, I see the clock over the bed. It is about three in the morning.

There is a subterranean river below the city, an invisible landscape under those desires. People live close to the water, but they never know it.

Buzzing, the boat is ready to make port.

I see a strange long building in front of me...... a little panicked, I walk slowly toward this enormous building.

The fish market is going to open. Vendors are busy unloading cargo. I look at my watch, it's 3:38 am......The building seems to be deconstructed, yet I can still see a lot of people working in it. They cannot see me. There is a river flowing under the building, I can see it through the breach of the building. The color of the water is dark...full of depression and greed. However, in my memory, there was no river here......

On the left, a billboard reflects the image of the city with the mountain behind it. Depending on one's position, it can reflect different views of the city. However, I have never seen the mountains behind the city before. This building seems to be growing along with my consciousness’.

Wait......I have never seen this building in Keelung. Even if I had seen it before, it did not look like this. I cannot remember it...... I started to think about why I was there. I have never seen this subterranean river before. No one told me about it, and I have never heard of it before. This is not Keelung, it seems similar but it isn’t. I always remembered Keelung as a prosperous, but unhappy city.

A city does not possess emotion, but people pour their emotions into it. Is this what we want? I am not sure. I recall a childhood memory. In the city, each code represents a certain memory. This building must be a memory bank showing us what we lost......

Or maybe the city was projected by my subconscious, an aggregate of desire. If this is fake, what is real? A river that people have never seen? I am confused.....

Finally, I climb to the rooftop where a garden is. I am surrounded by trees, and the soft breeze gently sweeps against my skin. At this moment, I am detaching from the city, the artificial city. I walk around the trees. Suddenly, the towering peaks catch my eye. I never noticed the outskirts of Keelung before. The magnificent spectacle spread itself out before my eyes. It seems I am living in a state of perpetual deja vu. Everywhere I go, I feel I have already been.

4:29 am I lay on the bed, trying to recall every detail of my dream. I don't want to wake up. I don't want to wake up in this cold tiny concrete room. I walk to the kitchen have a glass of whiskey, sit in the armchair, see the old postcard on the wall......the image on it is the same as my dream, I never noticed that the photo on the postcard is Keelung...... I think about the dream, everything in that world was trying to say something to me. No...... not really, this is my dream, so maybe I want to say something to someone else, every part trying to connect to reality. Was it a dream, or a /time that was forgotten by the people.

It's 6:02 am I am going to swim...Actually, I'll look for the subterranean river today.

OO2 BETWEEN HORIZON

A Juxtaposed Context of Balanced Life

Urban planning plays a critical part especially in Taiwan, profitability dominates the authority of urban spaces. This project aimed to open public space in the interest of economic urban renewal in Chilidan, and to discuss the relationship between local culture and daily life. For me, life is an “inbetween” experience, between different lifestyles instead of a union. Therefore, I was trying to provide a chance that makes people live inbetween, escape temporarily from the original life, and regulate the shape of life.

ONE LIFE

Since the Japanese-Occupied Period, Jiaoxi was known for hot springs. Locals used to explicit hot spring on bathing and farming. In 2006, the Hsuehshan Tunnel was completed. The tunnel connected Taipei to Yilan County, cutting down the journey time from two hours to just half an hour. Because of this convenience, Jiaoxi’s economy boomed. Out of all the towns in Ilan, Jiaoxi grew the fastest. This was because of the hot springs.

In contrast, on the other side of the railway, Chilidan, people still led the traditional lives of farming and fishing. Nowadays, however, people no longer have hot springs, agriculture or aquaculture to develop. Thus, traditional industries are in decline, as construction takes over.

There is a type of lifestyle going to eliminate others.

SENSE OF LIFE

In order to have a deeper insight into the culture and local life in Chilidan, I tried to live as much like a local as possible, walk on a path that was closer to daily life which allowed visitors to aware of the context of life rather than the asphalt roads. While I roamed, I attempted to experience the land with my body. I listened to the locals’ stories.

In Chilidan, temple life was slow, and the diversity of people’s experiences so intriguing. This area was set higher than the downtown area. Depending on where I stood I got different views of the landscape which I never experienced in the city’s center.

URBAN RENEWAL

Gentrification not only wipes out the original spiritof a place but also brings conformity to life. What I experienced in Chilidan I haven’t experienced in other places. This is the most valuable and unique characteristic of Chilidan.

STRATEGY

New urban planning solution: This solution was based on what I experienced, and how I tried to connect local culture to the kind of urban planning I envisioned.

With this new strategy, I calculated the area of the original parkland, and on it, expressed the culture of Chilidan. The remains of Trionyx Farms.

LIVE IN BETWEEN

The horizon contained two different worlds, up and down, shuttling between the new and the old not only provided an opportunity for farmers to show their products to the people but a new way for people to travel between history and present reality.