Since the inception of Ubike system in November 2012 in Taipei, the issued membership has been over 130,000. Including all12 administrative districts of Taipei City, there are 158 rental spots. By February 2014, there are 11.5 million passengers having used Ubike. Based on the population in Taipei, 2.6 mil-lion, on average, each resident have ridden Ubike over than 4 times.
This recently installed urban transportation has proven successful.
Now all the major MRT (The Taipei Metro System) stations in Taipei have Ubike spots installed. In all our five exemplified sites, the walking distance from the proposed housing to MRT stations ranges from 3-18 mins. We plan to install Ubike stations at the street level of all 5 sites, with that, the travel time from young professional’s residence to the critical network of city transportation system(MRT) will be under 5 mins, which will further enhance young professional’s mobility efficiency. In addition, we also proposed to have electric motorcycle (detailed in Architecture section) to work coinciding with Ubike stations. With these two vehicles offered at the same station, residents will have the flexibility to choose either one based on the travel distance.
In one of our sites, Ximending, the pedestrian walk ways were introduced to avoid the conflict of car traffic which used to impede shopping and city strolling experience. With integration of Orchid House clusters and public transportation system, we plan to preserve and enhance the city strolling experi-ence of these exemplified neighborhoods. Due to the long history of these sites, the originally planned street width does not have the capacity to hold high volume car traffic while maintaining an enjoyable walking experience. Our proposed mobility solution will guarantee efficient mobility while the inher-ent characteristics of the sites and their street life can be further enhanced without generating any additional carbon emission.
16%
5.1.5 Affordability
The concept of our business model will be built in a phased plan; a typical life cycle for one site is 10 years. Initially the project will heavily rely on outside funding to implement the Orchid House Cluster to a proper economies scale. With the size of the implementation, we want to ensure that the new economies built by the new comers, other rental incomes and sales of electricity will be able to offset the need of outside funding. The goal is to ensure that starting from the 2nd site (out of five), the proportion of funding sources from government will be reduced and even further from the 3rd site onward. Ultimately a self-sustained economic model can be attained. After the first 2 sites fully com-pleted, we will be able to provide a proven business model to advocate for the Orchid House concept to others. By then, the Orchid House will be adapted in greater Taipei city and even other major cities in Taiwan, including Kaohsiung and Taichung and so on. We will run a financial pro-forma project evalu-ation at a later stage.
Phase(Goals) Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4
30 % 20 % 5 % 10 % site complete, 1st cohort move in. economies reach a mature stage and start to profit.
No new residents yet
(3yr)
Net profit from all sources of incomes from the 1st exemplified site will be sufficient to significantly reduce government funding.
Ready to build Orchid House at the 2nd Site.
5.1.6 Appendix
5 sites description
Taipei city is located in a basin at north Taiwan. Tamsui River and Keelung River flow through and there are 12 districts (graph) in the city now. It is the most important city in Taiwan, not only in that the government of the Republic of China (ROC) is located there, but also in that it has a key position in transportation, as the master station of all long-distance buses, trains, and high-speed trains There is a domestic/international (to Asia city) Song-Shan Airport in the downtown. In order to keep the smooth of traffic in Taipei, there are many bridges and expressways that connect Taipei City and New Taipei City, where many people commute from every day.
Taipei was not developed officially until the end of the Qing Dynasty in the 1880’s. There were immi-grants from China, most of whom reside in Bangka and Da-Dao-Cheng, which are now in the Wan-Hua and Ta-Tong District of west Taipei. The development of Taipei started in this western area. The rule of the Qing Dynasty was followed by a Japanese occupation (1895-1945), then by the current ROC. The population was growing, so the city was expanded from the west towards the east, such as Da’an Dis-trict and Song-Shan DisDis-trict. The latest developed disDis-trict is Hsin-Yi DisDis-trict.
Different cultures and governances have affected Taipei’s infrastructure, life styles and building types.
There are historical and modern areas in the city and old and new cultures sometimes co-exist in one area. Following the 5 sites of Taipei below, one can find that Taipei is a city with diversity.
Di-Hua Street
Di-hua Street is located in the Da-Dao-Cheng area of Da-Tong District, south-west Taipei. The street is close to Da-Dao-Cheng Wharf of Tamsui River. It is about 800 meters long and is parallel to the River. It is now a historical business area.
The street was constructed during 1850s (Qing Dynasty) by Quanzhou-originating immigrants from China. Throughout the 19th century, Di-hua Street has been an important centre for commerce in Tai-wanese products and produce such as Chinese medicinal herbs, fabrics, camphor, and TaiTai-wanese tea.
In 1891, the first railroad of Taiwan was completed and passed through Da-Dao-Cheng area. The prod-ucts could easily transport to the mouth of Tamsui River and export to China, and vice versa. Though the railroad was demolished later, Di-Hua Street has been an important business street until now. The fabric market, Chinese herb stores, and Chinese New Year’s Market are very famous in nowadays. Di-Hua Street remains one of the most commercially active areas in Taipei.
The architecture has been under preservation and conservation efforts by the city. The typical building in Di-Hua Street is side by side shop houses. The houses are built along with the river. From Qing dy-nasty to Japan governed period, there are 3 different types of shop house: the traditional Fukien-style, Western-style, and Japanese Baroque-style.
The traditional Fukien-style houses are about 15-18 meters in depth and about 5.5 -6 meters in width.
There are usually arcades in the front and courtyards in the middle of the houses. (Traditional shop house graph) The house could be divided to 3 sections. The front part is usually a shop, followed by storage and living spaces in the middle and back side. The shop houses are usually 1 story with wood windows and slope roof.
The first Western-style house was built in Di-Hua Street because Da-Dao-Cheng area was assigned to be the foreigner residence area in Qing Dynasty. It affected the elevation and decoration of the shop houses. The houses are usually 2 stories with parapet decoration in roof. The Japanese Baroque-style house was popular in Taishō and Shōwa period. The luxurious decorations were one of the character-istics of them.
Ximen-ding
Ximen-ding is an area in the Wan-hua District of Taipei. It is an important bus transfer station of west Taipei and there is metro Ximen station right here. It takes less than 10 minutes from Ximen-ding to Taipei railroad station by bus.
Ximen-ding was constructed and named by Japanese in the beginning of twenty century, which is the time when Taiwan was governed by Japan. Ximen Ding was outside the western-gate of old Taipei City Wall. Ximen means western-gate in Chinese. The word “Ding” is origin from Japanese and means a neighborhood. It is the first place where was constructed by urban planning in Taiwan at that time. By the urban planning of Japanese, Ximen-ding was constructed according to Asakusa area of Tokyo and was designed to be a business area.
Until 1980’s Ximen-ding has been the most popular area in Taipei and was known by the theaters and fashions. Due to the development of east Taipei later, Ximen-ding lost its place during 1985-2000. It is the metro and new urban planning which brings Ximen-ding back to the stage after year 2000. It is now famous of the Ximen-ding Pedestrian Area, teenager’s fashion and culture, shopping mall, and lots of movie theaters (Pictures of the commercial areas).
Due to the Japanese urban planning, Ximen-ding was divided into many small blocks. Each block has a courtyard in the center and was surrounded by shop houses. The shop houses are usually 3-4 stories and the upper floors are living spaces. However, many upper floors of the shop house are rent for busi-ness use nowadays. The small blocks also create many corner shop houses which are very common in Ximen-ding (Pictures of shop house in the corner). These corners are usually good spot for business.
Ximen-ding has been developed for a long time, so there are many elders who live alone here and they are the main residents of Ximen-ding. Each day there is also many young population and tourists visit Ximen-ding. The old and young populations are co-exist in Ximen-ding and keep their own culture well.
Nan-Ji-Chang
Nan-Ji-Chang is a community in the Zhong-Zheng District of Taipei. It located at south-west Taipei and at a distance from city downtown.
Nan-Ji-Chang was originally military base for temporary air station during Japanese governed period.
After World War II, the ROC military took charge of it and several military communities were developed there. In 1949, the ROC government retreated from China to Taiwan. It resulted in lots of people mi-grated to Taipei. There were not enough spaces for those people, most are military, and their residenc-es were temporary. The government was urged to solve the situation and Nan-Ji-Chang was chosen to be the site for resettled tenements.
The first stage was completed in 1963 and followed by the second and third ones. The typical resettled tenement is 4-5 story old apartments. The units inside are 26-40 square meter and are designed for 1-2 persons per unit. Due to the limited spaces inside, the spiral stairs are put outside and between 2 opposite apartment buildings’ backside. (Pictures of apartment and spiral staircases) The staircase was an important public space and unique characteristic of Nan-Ji-Chang. In addition, the small unit was not enough for a family when they have children. In order to get more spaces, the illegal rooftop additions are very common here. Though the tenements and spiral staircases are constructed in order, the additions and small pathway between the tenements are created in an organic way. It is like the Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.
In 1960’s, Nan-Ji-Chang community was getting to the largest one where there were more than 1200 families. It was overcrowded and most young population left here for living. Nowadays, the residents in Nan-Ji-Chang Community are mainly elders. They are the owner of the tenements, but many of the owners are dead or the ownership is unclear. In addition, there are small business activities owned by the inhabitants, such as barber shop, beauty shop, and food vendors. (Pictures of beauty shop or Nan-Ji-Chang night market) The unclear ownership and the business activities are the issues which obstruct Nan-Ji-Chang’s renewal.
Min-Sheng Community
Min-Sheng Community locates in Song-Shan District of Taipei, which is about in the center of Taipei.
The major public transportation is bus and there are complete bus networks. The community is next to the Song-Shan Airport which is the only airport in Taipei and in the downtown.
The construction of Min-Sheng Community was supported by the loan of the “US aid fund” which was an agreement between ROC and United State government after World War II. It was created by collec-tive urban land consolidation and coordinated development, and was the first US-style community in Taiwan. The community was well designed according to US standard from road, public spaces, parks, to living spaces. It has been considered a high quality neighborhood and a perfect model of community in Taipei.
The typical building in Min-Sheng Community is five-story duplexes apartments with a vertical public staircase in the middle. The community is organized well due to collective urban land consolidation and coordinated development. The roads are arranged by cross shape. There is a traffic circle in the center and every road is divided road with spacious sidewalks. (Pictures of street) Twenty-five parks are distributed over the neighborhood, which means there is always a park nearby a duplexes apartment.
(Pictures of apartments and parks)The area ratio of park to the community is 1 to 10. This is an impor-tant characteristic of Min-Sheng Community. The green belts bring the countryside scenery to the city.
Min-Sheng Community is a residential area and the population here is mainly comfortable to wealthy families. The complete public spaces such as swimming pool, tennis field, parking lot, and parks, com-bine with spacious living spaces make most families settle down here.
Da’an District
Da’an District is at south Taipei. It is an area combined the cultural and educational area, residential area, entertainment area, shopping area and food service. In the north area, there are department stores and restaurants. In the south area, there are schools and universities. The traffic circulation in this district is designed as check board pattern. Ren’ai Road is a famous boulevard in Da’an District and it is the broadest way in Taipei. The order and arrangement of sidewalks, vehicles ways, roads, and
lanes are systemic planning. Citizens live, work, dine, study, and shopping here. Ren’ai road and Ren’ai road traffic circle (Pictures of the boulevard) nearby areas represent not only Da’an District but also Taipei life-style nowadays.
Da’an District includes all kind of building types and it represents contemporary Taipei. Four or five-story walk –in apartments are very common in this area. These apartments usually locate in the lane but not by the noisy roads. Unlike the shop house or row house which commercial activities are at first floor or nearby, the residential area is more isolated from commercial area in this district. There are also new high-rise buildings here and most are offices or commercial spaces. The historical buildings in Da’an District are mostly residences of celebrities or buildings of schools which results from its educa-tional and residential area characteristics.
The complete commercial and educational conditions attract comfortable to wealth family to move in.
The population is the most in Taipei. The first metro line passes through this area and now it has the most concentrated metro network in Da’an District. There is a unique 26 hectares metropolitan park
“Da’an forest park” (Pictures) in this area. It is considered the “lung of Taipei” and also an important space for art and culture activities. As Min-Sheng Community, there are parks all over the neighbor-hood and the green and sporty spaces of the campuses in the area are usually open to citizens. Da’an District earns its reputation of high living qualities neighborhood by the complete living function and facilities.
Current attempts in Taiwan for large-scale societal change stem from the government, but not all of its laws and regulations are popular with the people – government attempts at urban regeneration, in par-ticular, have a bad reputation and is associated with government requisitioning and demolition of homes.
With this in mind, Team UNICODE plans revive the community bottom-up, from a grassroots level.
Without relying solely on government channels, Team UNICODE will implement the Orchid House on building rooftops in the city to fix the cityscape and to catalyze change in the community.
The Orchid House is as much a physical dwelling structure as a mindset for living. Team UNICODE hopes to use the Orchid House to revive Taiwan by focusing on urban centers. Urban areas in Taiwan, particularly the capitol city, Taipei, have high population densities and a random assortment of archi-tecture – many buildings are old with rundown facilities. Furthermore, as in all urban cities but even more so because of the particularly high population density, commuter traffic causes extreme conges-tion, uses a lot of energy, and creates large amounts of pollution. Reviving the city would include not only renovating buildings and improving the residents’ quality of life, but also promoting creativity and sustainability.