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DESIGNING THE SUPERBLOCK A Model for Taipei Redevelopment by Li Pei Wang Bachelor of Science in Architecture, National Cheng-Kung University Tainan, Taiwan June, 1989 Submitted to the Department of Architecture in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE STUDIES at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY February 1996 @ Li-Pei Wang 1996. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to M.I.T. permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part. Signature of the Author Li-Pqi Wang Department of Architecture January 12, 1996 Certified by RoyRo J.J. StricklandStk - -lan Associate Professor of Architecture Thesis Supervisor Accepted by Roy Strickland 3AC E INS (WNU J. OF TECHNoLOGY Associate Professor of Architecture Chairperson, Master of Science in Architecture Studies MAR 2 0 1996 LIBRARIES 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Professor Roy Strickland Professor John deMonchaux Professor Dennis Frenchman My Parents, Mr. & Mrs. F. C. Wang Professor Julian Beinart Professor Pranab Chakrawarti Professor Michael Dennis Professor Gary Hack Professor Yeh-Chin Hsu Professor Jan Wampler Professor Krzysztof Wodiczko Cole Bellamy Emily Chang Dolly Cheng Nancy Jones Sheue-Hua Lin Anthony Montalto Tess Oliver Marsha Orent Chris Panfil Paul Wang Tanya Wang Joel Weiner All of the colleagues at the Department of Architecture, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Rotch Library, and Rotch Visual Collections; 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. - All of the colleagues at Division of Urban Design, Department of Urban Development, Taipei Municipal Government. All of the colleagues in Taipei Urban Design Studio 1994 and 1995. All of my friends who have been supportive throughout my study at M.I.T. All of the wonderful people at Charrette, Crimson Tech, Typotech, Pearl, and SBI Sales. DESIGNING THE SUPERBLOCK A Model for Taipei Redevelopment by Li-Pei Wang Submitted to the Department of Architecture on 12 January, 1996 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Architecture Studies ABSTRACT design strategies and their adaptation to the contemporary city of Taipei. Flexibility is accomplished by offering the As many other cities in developing coun- possibility for various redevelopment tries, the City of Taipei is currently con- scenarios, thus evolving a complex, fine- fronting enormous redevelopment pres- grain urban fabric. Feasibility is demon- sures. These pressures endanger the sur- strated by proposing a series of public vival of the city's physical and social fab- actions, such as direct government inter- ric. But they also offer the opportunity ventions, redevelopment regulations and for the city to improve its environment. guidelines, transfer of development rights, and various incentives and disin- The thesis argues that these redevelop- centives that lie within the power of gov- ment pressures can instead be well ernment today in Taipei. absorbed through the strategic adoption of selective examples of traditional The thesis starts out by inspecting differ- Taiwanese urban form. Development ent aspects of interventions can then be enhanced the contemporary physical through the incorporation of successful context of the city. Traditional urban precedents from both the local context design strategies and new urban develop- and from abroad. Thus, the thesis pre- ment trends are then juxtaposed to reveal sents a flexible redevelopment proposal the strengths and weaknesses of both. by re-designing a typical urban superblock in the City of Taipei; it illus- The main body of the thesis describes the trates the importance of historical prece- redevelopment project, which consists of dents, as these may fit one or more par- a series of design strategies. A number of ticular situations in a Taipei superblock. diagrams, ranging in scale from city-wide Both the process itself and the outcome of analyses to larger-scale studies these prototypical design strategies of the should be applicable to other similar superblock explore various layers and Taipei superblocks. aspects of urban information. These dif- ferent readings serve as the foundation The goal of this design of the redevelop- upon which the redesign proposals are ment process is to create a superblock of based. Precedents from Manhattan, New livability, flexibility, and feasibility. York; Savannah, Georgia; and Beacon Livability is realized through the redis- Hill and Back Bay in Boston are studied covery of traditional Taiwanese urban and compared to reveal the distinctive characteristics of each. Inspired by, and without aggressive maneuvers, such as based on the above research, four different massive destruction, massive rebuilding, superblock redevelopment scenarios and and large-scale redevelopment with high- three housing prototypes and block con- density tower buildings. solidation approaches are put to the test as design exercises. Meanwhile, calculations The final section of this thesis is an of projected population, density, and implementation framework that suggests demands substantiate the design proposal. the means to realize of the redevelop- ment/re-design goals. Since there cur- On the basis of the previous steps and rently exists no comprehensive urban some general observations on the city design guidelines for the City of Taipei, itself, the thesis argues that making this proposal suggests a flexible frame- streets special "places", is a powerful work of design regulations that allows organizing principle for urban design. the design exercises in this thesis to be Good paths, especially streets, do not repeated and applied to similar blocks in only carry the function of traffic circula- the city, and to come up with different tion, but also foster social interactions, results that address the changing needs commercial activities, and surprises that for different sites over time. enrich the urban experiences. In addi- tion, various configurations and sizes of blocks will help creating a complex, fine- grain urban environment, and will posi- tively affect land values. Hence the rede- velopment of the superblock becomes primarily a street-design and block- 5 reconfiguration project. The design of three major streets within the superblock demonstrates how the public and private realms can work together and reform the physical shape of the urban environment Thesis Supervisor: Roy J. Strickland Title: Associate Professor of Architecture 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 3 ABSTRACT 4 INTRODUCTION 8 URBAN CONTEXT OF TAIPEI CITY 11 I. Topography 12 II. History 14 III. Urban Planning Laws and Regulations 21 IV. Real Estate Market and Financing Strategies 23 TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM VERSUS THE NEW TREND 27 I. Components of Traditional Urban Form 28 II. The New Trend 32 THE PROJECT 37 I. Site Selection 38 II. Site Analyses 42 III. Precedents 64 IV. Redevelopment Scenarios 68 V. Projections for 2010 80 VI. Designing the superblock 84 VII. Housing Prototypes and Block Consolidation 106 VIII. Designing the Streets 110 IX. Implementation 122 7 CONCLUSION 127 - APPENDIX 131 I. List of Illustrations and Credits 132 II. Summarized Translation from "Taipei 2010" 136 III. Summarized Translation from "The Compilation of Urban 142 Development Laws and Regulations in the City of Taipei" IV. Planning Processes and Regulations in the City of Taipei 146 V. Conversion Chart for Metric, Foot, and Taiwanese Systems 154 INTRODUCTION A messy environment, limited space, and This neglect of traditional urban form is urgent redevelopment pressures pro- actually an amputation that dislocates pelled by the city's growth are all among traditional cultural and social aspects of the most pressing physical urban issues city life. Social places in the past such as confronting the City of Taipei. Located in temple forecourts, street arcades, and the Taipei Basin in the northern corner of back alleys suddenly disappear in those Taiwan (Fig. 1.1), the city consists of a ambitious new projects. People who had total area of 272 km2, of which only 39% been fascinated by shiny glass towers is usable as urban land. The remainder and aggressive concrete masses, and who consists of agricultural land, mountains, and water. The population in 1990 was moved into an apartment there now feel roughly 2.7 million and the urban density lost in the neighborhoods these new pro- reached 25,000 people per km 2. For the jects have created. These are environ- year 2010 the city has a projected night- ments where everybody lives physically time population of 3.85 million and a much closer together-most of the time daytime population of 6.75 million. 1 one front door faces another in an apart- ment building-but where most people The traditional urban environment that feel isolated psychologically. These peo- was created during the Japanese coloniza- ple seldom chat with each other, most of tion with hierarchical spatial orders and the residents in one building do not even homogeneous urban fabric has been sub- know anyone else any more. There are jected to slow destruction during the past no "places" in this kind of urban form two decades in order to accommodate that allow social interactions to happen. accelerated growth quickly and inexpen- sively What has emerged instead on the I believe that aspects of traditional urban real estate market, as a manifesto of form are capable of addressing contempo- modernity to many local people, have been rary urban issues and the needs brought