A single material, iron, repeated endlessly, allows us to forget its presence. Through this material, the project evokes the 2 great phenomena that have impacted the place over the last 100 years: - the rebars build a new “iron path”, in place of the original railway - the gaps between the bars show the powerful action of the tropical nature By lifting and bending almost imperceptibly, the rebars gradually give shape to the furniture, the signage and the protective vaults. At the start, the decking is raised to leave the old ground intact; trees and grasses, keep on growing through the bars.
In the tunnel, the light source is invisible, sparing the intrados, where the bat colonies hang in semi-darkness. Visible under our feet through the decking, the ground keeps changing: water streams, sand, rocks… This long underground gallery ends in a high vertical light well, open only to the sky. The sun's rays filter through the layers of foliage of the cliffs and produce, in contact with the vapours exhaling from the tunnel, an unreal atmosphere of fantastic tale. The second tunnel, after a wide curve, opens onto the gorge.
A water mirror fed by natural streams extends above the river. From the inside, the visitor's silhouette remains suspended between its own reflection and the mountain landscape in the background. Then, following the sinuous cliff, a footbridge threads its way between the highest trees that emerge through the decking, and above the canopy. The construction method, midway between industry and crafts, is adapted to Taiwan SMEs which are capable of both efficient mass-production in workshops and "haute couture" adaptation on site.
Location : TAIWAN, SANDIAOLING - Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Code Postal: 224 Contracting authority:
Public Works
DEPARTEMENT,
New Taipei City
GOVERNMENT - 220242 TAIPEI TAIWAN darkline0301@gmail.com Author, designer, project manager : mICHELE&mIQUEL Michèle ORLIAC & Miquel BATLLE architects and landscape architectes and dA VISION Chung-Hsun WU landscape architect Internal team : mICHELE&mIQUEL : Jerôme Lanche, Lin Yun-Jhu, Maria Fandiño, Giovanna Bartholeschi, Jean Orliac, Grégoire Orliac Denis Wanders, Adrià Fenoll dAVISION : Jerry Chang, Ming-Hsien Llu, Lilian Chang External collaborators: Lighting designer…………….: ARTEC 3 STUDIO Structural engineer………....: YU SHENG engineering consultants, elements structural engineering associates Géotechnical engineer ........: GEOLITHE engineering Tunnel structural consultant.: SINOTECH engineering consultants INC Electrical engineer …………:
Yuan Dian
Engineering Consultant Building Company:
Dao Tian
Construction Co., Ltd Cost VAT INCL : 9 300 000 € Total path length: 3 km Dates: design 2019 / 02 - 2020 / 04 ; Construction 2020 / 04 – 2022 / 03 ; opening to public 2022 / 07 Photos crédits: LU Yu-Jui, mICHELE&mIQUEL Images crédits: mICHELE&mIQUEL