Like all Asian cities, Taipei has undergone tremendous growth in the last decade, symbolized not only by Taipei 101, the world’s tallest building, but also by the rapid proliferation of banal residential towers, perhaps the worst fall-out, architectural speaking, of the high powered Asian economy. While more and more people find adequate housing, cities are becoming less and less captivating, as the global migration of capital seems to often do more damage than good. Nonetheless, a pressurized vertical ecology of architecture offers the city density and a kind of sustained energy that is at the heart of urban life. The particular site for the Taipei PAC is a case study in shifting scales, witnessed by the 45-50 meter tall neoclassical apartment buildings that now line the South and West streets bordering the site. While the Shilin Market to the north has resisted the infiltration of the high rise type, the fall of the low rise city around it indicates a trend toward large scale future developments. Indeed, the TPAC site is pressured by such widespread architectural conservatism, a phenomena that is dramatically countered by Qixing Mountain to the East, a verdant green surface with little built incursions......more
