Project Overview

The "Shisizhang History Park" is a reshaping project of the park based on the local characteristics and its original facilities. With multiple values of "sustainability", "disaster prevention", "history", and "integration", the park is presented in the North of the New Zhongyang Village area. The park is “user-friendly", and the park's services are improved to meet the needs of users of different ages and ethnic groups. The Minnan characteristic buildings and the amusement facilities that incorporate the impression of a farm are the highlights, allowing children to play and learn about the early farmers' living environment.
The design team kept and removed the original facilities and integrated the park into the disaster prevention plan. The park can be served as a family playground during normal times and as a refuge for the surrounding population when necessary.

Organisation

Xindian District Office. Taiwan

Team

Song Ching Construction
CTWU Architect & PE Consultants

Project Brief

"Canals and farmland, history, and heritage."
Shisizhang History Park has a rich cultural background. On the northwest side of the park, there is a redeveloped area of historical buildings and the Lord of the Land (Tudi Gong) Temple. Since the old houses convey local traditional architectural characteristics, the park preserves the characteristic buildings, incorporating the local history and culture and the characteristics of historical buildings into the park. There are signs in the park to help achieve the goal of cultural heritage.
Historical relics should not be preserved as monuments but recreated with a modern design. The brick-red facade is the highlight of the park. With children's laughter, the design team hopes to create a meaningful user-friendly, multi-functional park with disaster prevention and recreation, aiming at diversity, uniqueness, and integration.

Project Innovation/Need

Disaster Prevention
The Xindian district is densely populated. To cope with possible disasters, the design team took the concept of overlaying the three spatial needs of "weekday, holiday, and disaster" to take into account the functions of leisure, shelter, and education. The project includes a natural water storage cycle, a disaster prevention warehouse, and seating for campfires and picnics, to maximize the benefits of use. The project is also the "first regional disaster prevention park in New Taipei City".

History
The site used to be farmland a long time ago. The design team set Minnan culture as the core to create the imagery of the fields, including recreational facilities based on barn construction, Minnan-style buildings, a water area, and wooden piles that symbolize harvest scenes. The project continues to preserve the Shisizhang old houses while incorporating new architectural ideas so that children can learn about the site's past and present while playing.

Design Challenge

The challenge was topography. With sustainability being a priority, it was critical to remove the useless and retain the essential. The undulating topography of the original site, coupled with the disorderly arrangement of facilities and a large number of poorly grown trees, resulted in obstructed routes and spaciousness, making it impossible to achieve the disaster prevention function. The design team optimized the route planning and retained the trees.

Sustainability

The project achieves ventilation and lighting in both indoor and semi-outdoor areas. The roof of the entrance pavilion is designed in the shape of a "V", and plants are used to insulate the roof from the heat of the sun so that people can feel comfortable and cool under the pavilion. On the other side, the barn made of red brick tiles and concrete is a disaster-proof barn with moisture-absorbing and temperature-regulating effects due to the characteristics of the building materials. Finally, the park is lit by solar lamps and energy-saving LED lights to achieve energy saving.

The water provided in the park is tap water from rainwater. The lawn planting purifies the water so that the rainwater can be reused by the public to create a water cycle. It can also be used for people's livelihood in case of disasters.