Taichung Gongyi Hub
Designer: Joseph_WEI Chao Chun, Olivia_HUANG Yen Yun
Time: 2021 summer
Location: Taichung, Taiwan
A park lavatory
公益公園的緣廊
設計/ 魏肇君，黃彥云
時間/ 2021夏
基地/台中市西區，台灣
Taichung Gongyi Hub
Gongyi road has long been the major commercial artery of the city of Taichung—with its west part centers around the Civic Plaza surrounded by hotels, bars, shopping mall and exquisite stores, east part flanked by miles of large restaurants and their wide range of delicacies, further boomed with the completion of the newest metro line. Nevertheless, these two halves seem to operate independently, with the middle part like a breakpoint—few blocks of nearly no visitors, diners or shoppingers, dim and quiet comparing to the dynamic activities few blocks away.
Gongyi park sits within this middle part, and could somehow be the key to connecting and integrating the two opposite parts into one—shaping Gongyi road as a rather significant figure of urban living style through mingling the trait of its east and west, providing a consecutive roaming experience.
The two new washroom pavilions will define the park’s new gesture facing Gongyi road, welcoming visitors from both east and west, facilitating diverse events at this meeting point.
The west pavilion is composed of elevated washroom on a pond, stretches forward to sidewalk a tiered bus stop, under folded canopy supported through a small tower structure. Commuters is thus offered an easy access to public amenity. A walkway connects the two distinct forms of women and men’s washroom—one with orange, translucent tapering elliptical cone shell, and one a twisting box with weathering steel roof, respectively. They will be lit at night, providing a sense of secure and to be a new beacon in the night street.
The east pavilion merges washroom with a street side tiered patio and a semi-outdoor bleacher on top. The bleacher is set to be in dialogue with the existing rotunda-like pavilion structure at the center of Gongyi park, injecting possibilities for it as a stage for performance and community events, or families hanging out on the platform while children playing down in the round space.
These additions to the park replace the former banal line of bushes and fences along the street. The program of a washroom expanded to shape an open and dynamic civic place. The middle blocks of Gongyi road could be thus lit up and prosper, ready for a more energetic and enjoyable experience of this glamourous city.
公益公園的緣廊
台中西區的夜晚滂薄，炊煙在沿著公益路的鄰坊之間裊裊升起。東西向的城市漫遊拉長著生活韻律，自在悠閒的步伐在街面之間穿梭。
然後在整個區域的中點，有塊綠地上正亮起了燈火。潺潺的水聲環抱著土壤，茂密的樹叢間有都市的微光依稀。
在這樣相較四周幾個街廓外有些暗朦朦的環境裡，人們在有著幾座燈籠的地景裡休憩。這些燈籠以高低起伏的梯級與坡道串連起停留、棲息與移動的立面。有些面對著通勤的、來往的城市外部，有些環繞著聚集而交流的公園內部。燈籠的本體裝載著作為漫遊城市重要便利設施的公廁，是某種最短暫停泊的港灣。公園作為都市的院落，則有了催化著生活交會的緣廊。
四周是熙來攘往，有時溢出著熱呼呼的內部活動，有時等待著的人們來回盤旋的騎樓地景。
公益公園以這樣的新介面作為某種呼應與延續。
在日間是生活緣廊，在夜裡是生氣蓬勃的驛站。於巨大的都市脈動裡，某種物件尺度的東西正放著和藹的光亮。
