Translated and compiled by Bing-sheng Lee
The Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) Changhua Station has won at the Architizer A+Awards, an awards program aimed to recognize and promote the best architecture and products annually around the world.
On April 12, Architizer, a US architecture website founded by a group architects and also the largest online architecture database in the world, announced the winners of this year’s A+Awards.
THSR Changhua Station was named the winner of A+ Popular Choice Award under the Bus and Train Stations category. The station garnered the most votes among the five finalists on the website. Experts and architecture enthusiasts around the globe voted.
The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on May 12 in New York.
THSR Changhua Station, designed by Kris Yao, a Taiwanese architect with more than 30 years experience in the industry, was inaugurated last year on December 1. The essence of the design was to build a “premium green building” and mix in the spirit of the local agricultural industry.
The station is a four-floor structure that infuses the concepts of flowers, vegetation, sunlight, water, farms and pastoral lifestyle with cutting-edge modern technology.
The introduction of Changhua Station on Architizer writes, “The roof, whose checkered pattern is reminiscent of rice paddies, is held up by curved columns that allow natural breezes and sunlight into the station.”
THSR says that it is honored and excited to receive recognition from Architizer. It thanks Yao for his contributions and appreciates all the people who voted for the station. The award is a stepping-stone for Changhua Station to become a new landmark in Taiwan.
Architizer’s A+Awards was established in 2013. The website invites over 350 famous architects as judges and includes online voting for its popularity prize. The awards feature eight main categories with 49 different items and attracts more than 1000 projects from over 100 countries to compete each year.
THSR Changhua Station. Photo Credit: 台灣高鐵彰化站 THSR Changhua Station
Taiwan architecture receiving international recognition for cultural and innovative design
This is not the first time architecture in Taiwan has won an Architizer A+Award.
Last year, the Taiwan International Flower Trade Center located in Neihu, Taipei won the award under the Mixed Use architecture category.
It attained the recognition for its overall design, special architectural landscape, colorful exterior design, and greenhouse structure.
The landscape of the trade center incorporates logistics space with green space for the public and its greenhouse structure efficiently allows both plant incubation and exhibition functions.
Taiwan International Flower Trade Center. Photo Credit：準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia
Follow@Flickr CC BY 2.0
In 2014, a public parking tower in Wulai, New Taipei City, was one of the winners of Architizer A+Awards and a steel taxi stand at Magong Airport in Penghu earned a special mention in the awards.
The parking tower got the prize for its innovative combination of cutting-edge technology with Wulai’s indigenous Atayal people’s culture. The steel taxi stand gained recognition for its exterior design simulating waves and boat sails.
Public parking tower in Wulai. Photo Credit：準建築人手札網站 Forgemind ArchiMedia
Follow@Flickr CC BY 2.0
In March, Architizer posted a feature article titled, “Reframing Taiwan: 10 Cultural Projects Transforming the Vernacular," specifically introducing Taiwan’s architectural environment and ten structures that feature a cultural combination of Taiwan’s history and contemporary life.
“Embracing a hybrid blend of eclectic architecture, the built environment reflects both localized and international building trends,” reads the article, summarizing the style of the ten new cultural architecture in Taiwan.
Edited by Olivia Yang
Sources:
Apple Daily
UDN
NOWnews
SET
EpochTimes
ETtoday
“The Best of the Best: Announcing the Winners of the 2016 A+Awards!” (Architizer)
“Reframing Taiwan: 10 Cultural Projects Transforming the Vernacular” (Architizer)
“Wulai parking tower wins architecture award” (Taiwan Today)
