Urban development sometimes means demolishing old buildings to make way for new ones. The HEITO 1909 project designed by ECG International Landscape Consultants, a Taiwanese landscape architecture firm, showcases that urban development and conservation of old buildings and their valuable stories can be a simultaneous occurrence. The abandoned ruins that used to be buried underground were transformed into a new world of the city after being excavated and carved!
Adaptive reuse of Industrial Heritage in Taiwan
The former factory for processing sugarcane now known as HEITO 1909 was viewed as a wasteland by the public, for more than a decade. The sugar factory inside is a mystery to the public, with the buildings destroyed and abandoned for several decades. With a vision of transforming the site into a public gathering place that retains fragments of the existing industrial infrastructure, this preservation and adaptive reuse project is one of its kind. The park provided people with a significant place to engage in quality natural environments within a crowded city.
Because preservation contradicts real estate development, the conservation of historic buildings is a criticized ideology in Taiwan, explaining why most sugar factory buildings are destroyed. The project sustained pressure to reuse the factory’s ruins to remind the citizens of the history of Heito.
The distinctive design creatively incorporates the ruins and damaged structures into the civil facility for people to explore, experience, and study.
Site Introduction
The Pingtung (Heito) sugar refinery is situated southeast of Pingtung city. The design site is located on both sides of Snake Creek and is 700 meters from the train station. The project covers an area of 860,000 square meters that had been inaccessible to the public since 1909.
The Taiwan sugar company donated 160,000 square meters for public use.
The geography was identified with demolished underground factories and wastewater basins, which made the space unsafe. After violent emendations, the area is now a public park that uses these formerly derelict spaces as places of engagement to give a natural terrain in a civic megacity setting. The unique design creatively incorporates the remains and damaged structures into a geography for people to witness and enjoy while pressing the history of Taiwan’s connection to the sugar trade. It is about reforming an industrial polluted river into a natural habitat.
Site History
1895-1994 / A megacity born from sugar
During the 16th colonization period (Japanese colonialism), sugar was a profitable commodity. The Dutch East India Company developed the sugar assiduity in Taiwan due to its geographical position and climate.
HEITO 1909 / Sugar Factory
In 1909, the Heito Sugar Factory was opened and began operating – the sugar industry stimulated Heito’s development. From 1910, the Governor’s office entirely focused on the Heito Street Urban Development Plan, laying the foundation for Pingtung’s advancement as an ultramodern city.
1939-1945 / USN bombing raid
During World War II, cane sugar was an important cash crop and a strategic product, Sugar had medical purposes, and derivative alcohol could be used as energy. Heito Sugar Factory and Heito Airport became the central focus of the Allied aggressions.
1977-1994 / Industrial pollution
Because the sugarcane refinery created a large quantum of bagasse, a plant was built to transfigure the waste into paper. The paper plant officially began operations in 1977. When it was discontinued in 1994, the factory had 600 employees and 24-hour operations.
1994-2018 / Abandoned and Forgotten
There was a rise in protests of environmental pollution due to the sugar industry. The paper factory was closed, as a result of that. Public entry was prohibited since 1909, and most structures and buried, so the park remained a mystery to the general public for nearly a century.
2018-2021 / History uncovered
It was unknown during the first phase of construction what would be revealed when point excavation started. The process quickly uncovered existing structures and a new directive to reuse the old structures in the new design.
Project Narrative
It’s a design that was executed in two phases construction and design. The first is the identification, excavation, and landscape infrastructure finished in 2020 while the second is the reuse of the discovered historical site that finished in the first month of 2021.
Factory wasteland as an urban park
Before discovering the buried structures, the design was supposed to be a typical civic waterfront park. The redesign incorporates the existing texture and adaptive reuse of old structures into a new pavilion, conserves resources, and celebrates its history.
Structures of the past
Each structure served a specific function in the park, feeding a vital look into Heito’s development history. It tells the story of erecting the structure and the impact on the megacity.
The only historical remains surviving are the underground structures where the excavation stopped due to the extent of damage. “Point cloud” was used to map, study, and measure the inside of the structures.
Considering the safety risk due to level undulations, a central courtyard was formed and connected through pathways. The courtyard’s foundation design helps in storing and pumping stormwater drainage to prevent future flooding in the area. Structures reveal at various stages creating interesting sections.
Waterfront restoration
Originally, Snake Creek had a natural environment. However, it was framed into a concrete ditch for industrial wastewater disposal. Advancements needed to open the waterfront for public activities included water cleansing systems, grading where seasonal overflow occurs, and wetlands for natural restoration.
Only six of nine water basins could be preserved with foundation due to size limitations. The history of sugarcane cultivation and the spirit of exploration around nature is experienced in the adventure playgrounds reformed in the basins. The strong and well-defined steel structure references old machinery as an addition to the existing base.
A natural forest, reflecting the memory of a bamboo pavilion built due to the emperor’s visit in the bygone era, was depicted using factory-inspired material such as steel in a rhythmic sequence creating a tree-top-like structure providing shade and light play.
An illusion of walking on water gets formed where a deck leads to the center. A sense of voyage is relived through this.
Factories nostalgia/ Skyline
The pavilion and pavement have certain angles parallel to the factories, railroad, and conveyor. A continuous line marks the factory circulation, representing the skyline from the past.
Lighting as a Landscape element
The interpretation of the lighting environment for industrial remains should blend with the surrounding natural geography and original artistic history, representing the activities of contemporary people in historic spots. The overall lighting environment should not disturb birds, insects, neighbors, or astronomers. Through further subdued planning, one can give back to nature a “gentle” light, pressing the diverse imagination of local cultural heritage and the surrounding natural landscape. The lighting design for the project merges into the landscape around the site to create an outline.
The past, present, and future
Research and discovery of the original structures provide a starting point for the design. Modified existing structures with different functions and new possibilities and successful outcomes created through a deductive design process, should be the new approach.
There are gaps in our history because historical buildings were simply demolished instead of sources of inspiration. With Heito, a part of the era was preserved through the reflection of previous spatial particularities.
Hopefully, there will be further interesting responses to questions about how abandoned structures can be redesigned and reused by the public.
Hopefully, people can see a wasteland and further discover its potential!
References:
HEITO 1909 by ECG International Landscape Consultants. [online]. Available at: https://landezine-award.com/heito-1909/ [Accessed 29 January 2024].
Peter Pan. (2021). If you have been to Pingtung County Citizens’ Park, you must watch this movie!. [YouTube video]. Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZLS_grN9jg [Accessed 29 January 2024].
HEITO 1909 by ECG International Landscape consultants. [online]. Available at: https://design.museaward.com/winner-info.php?id=4920 [Accessed 29 January 2024].
HEITO 1909. [online]. Available at: https://architectureprize.com/winners/winner.php?id=4869 [Accessed 29 January 2024].
