taipei's new horizon building in the songshan cultural park by toyo ito

the taipei’s new horizon building in the songshan cultural park by toyo ito opened earlier this year
all images courtesy of toyo ito

converted from the 75-year-old songshan tobacco factory in eastern taipei, the songshan cultural park encompasses an 18-story building that includes a hotel, theaters, offices for the cultural industry and an eslite bookstore. the slightly curved taipei new horizon (TNH), designed by japanese architect toyo ito, towers 14 stories above its surroundings. eslite has gone all in at the location, opening its first movie theater and dedicated performance space in addition to its more usual bookstore and fashion market. next to the building, and an integral part of the park, are 6.6 hectares of abandoned factories and renovated warehouses.

front view of taipei new horizon (TNH)
image © designboom

roof
image © designboom

the slightly curved TNH was honored with the 12th gold national architecture award for public buildings

image © designboom

the TNH is planned to coexist harmoniously with the nearby tobacco plant historical site. the japanese authorities built the factory, their first overseas tobacco rolling facility, in 1937. it was taken over by the taiwan provincial monopoly bureau (which later became the taiwan tobacco and wine monopoly bureau) after taiwan’s retro-cession and eventually shuttered in 1998.

‘back in the 1930s, the tobacco factory was like a utopia, providing its employees with everything they needed in life,’ ito said. ‘the project seeks to integrate the historical site with new construction and natural ecology, and will be showcased to the citizens and the world.’ his contact with taiwan in architecture started with the 2005 design project for the main stadium for 2009 world games, kaohsiung city and a follow-up victory from the international architecture design competition for taichung metropolitan opera house in the same year. in 2007, he was even invited to design the new college of social science of national taiwan university.

‘old buildings are valuable assets to cities. a city must retain its regional character, its own identity. a city becomes very dull if there’s only fast development without the consideration of history and culture.’ ito says to designboom

in the light of overall landscape, the color green is introduced from outside to the walls, terraces, and base. furthermore, to enhance expression, various colors like bright green, orange and red are used on the building
image © designboom

‘the park will make taipei the cultural creative capital among ethnic chinese communities and serve as the basis of the city’s bid for world design capital in 2016,’ the city mayor hau lung-bin said. ‘we hope the park can promote and encourage the development of taiwan’s cultural creative industry’. according to the taipei city government, fubon group (the project’s principal shareholders) invested NT$8.6 billion (US$287 million) in the project, with NT$7.3 billion as the construction cost, while the rest is for development royalty.

taipei's new horizon building in the songshan cultural park by toyo ito

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