Document Type
Thesis
Degree
M.ARCH I
Date
1980
Keywords
Tiene, Preservation, Village, Taiwan
Language
English
Disciplines
Architecture
Description/Abstract
The unique architectural development of Ba-Dow-Tsu fishing village has been in my mind ever since the time, many years ago, when i first made it a habit of wandering with no fixed objective in mind through old town. Twenty years ago, one could enjoy many thoroughfares that still had about there the air or early Taiwan village a quiet Chinese peace created, in part, by the low horizontal lines of the central courtyard, terraced- houses. Those streets are now slums and ruins that can be enjoyed only in memory.
In the march of progress, we have ruthlessly destroyed all our older architecture. But, if the architecture is gone, a few individual buildings of an older time remain. We can still tread the principal path of the great explorers. It no longer is a whole picture of the exact original condition, but the basic elements remain unchanged.
Twenty years goes by, and we find people living in the same village with the essence of early fishing life style. The village, the first settlement of people in the Kee-Lung municipal area, was called Ba-Dow-Tsu. Its inhabitants were first Pin-Phou Tribe and later mainland Haakah, but its population would frequently be swelled by mainland Chinese, most of them would be fishermen. The rest were mining laborers and administrators under orders to defend the military security of Taiwan Strait.
Of less importance that Ba-Dow-Tsu village was another village not too distant to be considered as part of the study domain. It was called Back Alley Village by the Haakah who inhabited it, and it is shown on the east bank of the Ba-Dow-Tsu Peninsula. Both of the villages present the similar life styles and living patterns, the same housing arrangement and development condition.
i show in the early part of the thesis on fishing village housing condition study that its beginnings are based on use and a unique life style, to my mind, will be equally important as the other factors from this modern society which pushes the redevelopment. it may well be asked whether my continued devotion to the memory of the old fishing village atmosphere has not blinded me to the beauty and advantages of advanced modern technology.
The initial proposal of Ba-Dow-Tsu redevelopment plan started in 1973 by government. One of their main concerns was to find a site for relocating fishing population scattering around the central business district. During last five years, we saw much activity in clearing land and road building, but rather less in house building. For higher density accommodation of the new comers into this neighborhood, slightly physical improvements on old house stocks has been the main strategy for the past decade. Further exploitation of available land land for mass industrialized housing development will be the next undertaking as a consequence of adjacent harbor development.
In the revolution of modern technology, every vestige of our 19th century "heritage" will have disappeared. The desecration of village streets and the entire absence of design in a civic sense of the typewriter facades of modern design housing construction in this area would indicate that we are in no position to cast the "first stone" at those who preceded us.
In Taiwan, the contrasts of old and new architectural developments are placed abruptly together, one against the other. Hopefully, the next decade will be an era for its young generations to work toward a harmony of ancient and modern. Could it be realistic for our old traditions to smother what is new? this is not to say the deep relationships do not always exist between the world of yesterday and the world of today and tomorrow. the character of the past addresses us today; it prevails through forms. They turn up in architecture that uses the same plan elements; the same justapositions of primary forms; the same preference for certain materials; the same feeling for the monumental.
In this project, a subtle study of the traditional living patterns and related architectural forms in their living environment is erected though a both analytic and romantic stand point. the final result is the design of the houses and neighborhood for a specific fishing community, who possesses and exclusively traditional forms of life style in this modern society. The fundamental questions of optimum density and advanced technology must be answered in the end as a response to our recognition of the time, the space, and the things we are dealing with.
Recommended Citation
Tiene, Li, "North Taiwan: Fishing Village Housing Redevelopment" (1980). Architecture Master Theses. 8.
https://surface.syr.edu/architecture_mtheses/8
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional Information
Thesis advisers; Kermit Lee