MVRDV The southeastern tip of Taiwan is no stranger to natural forces.
Over thousands of years, the combination of wind and water have shaped the coast around Jialeshui, creating a striking landscape filled with a combination of forested cliffs and sculpted rock formations running along the blue-green sea. For decades, tourists have come to this part of the island to surf, hike, and see unique rocks that resemble rabbits, toads, and seals, making it one of the country’s most popular geological destinations.
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“Jialeshui is part of Kenting National Park, and for many people in this part of Taiwan, it’s been a good place to visit as well as a school trip destination where children could learn about geology,” said Hui Hsin Liao, a director at MVRDV, a global operating architecture and urbanism practice, who focuses on Taiwanese projects. “Unfortunately, it’s often the target of typhoons, and just a few years ago, a typhoon destroyed most of the infrastructure. It left the area almost abandoned for a while.”
While the dramatic landscape remained, what was already limited tourist infrastructure had been mostly washed away, leaving only a single narrow road that delineates the beach from the cliffs and a small retail space at the entrance of the park.
'A clear boundary'
“What you see today at Jialeshui shows a clear boundary between the natural and the artificial; in turn, this artificial trail separates nature from itself, separating forest from the coastline,” said Winy Maas, a founding partner at MVRDV.
When the county government decided to restore the area, MVRDV, in partnership with HWC Architects, crafted a new master plan for the area. They call it Nature Rocks, and it includes a new visitors center, walking paths, public spaces, and look-out points. Hui said the designers worked hard to “bring back the glory of nature” by leveraging the existing infrastructure footprint to create new buildings that reflect the shape of the area’s unique natural beauty.
“We wanted to celebrate the beauty there and make it a place where people want to bring their children again, so our design is meant to be an extension of the landscape itself,” Hui said. “We also knew, because this is a national park, we wanted to be able to protect the natural species that reside in Jialeshui. So, as we worked, we wanted to make sure we could create new paths and buildings while preserving the corridor for all the different species’ habitats.”
The resulting design includes three sculpted buildings, which house important tourist offerings, including a visitors center, cafe, souvenir shop, educational and exhibition spaces, and restrooms.
MVRDVEach building was designed to blend into the landscape. The same approach was used for public spaces and the site’s roadway and path network. The road will be transformed to increase access to the site, including extra room for pedestrians, cyclists, and shuttle buses.
In addition, there will be new look-out areas at points of interests, including views of the sea and a popular waterfall, which will now have updated kiosks and facilities.
Hui said the team’s success can be attributed to being open to working with local experts to create a master plan that respects the environment and supports sustainability. She recommends that architects or designers who are thinking about how to reimagine natural landscapes rely on their expertise as they work.
“We are working with a local structural engineer, a local professor who knows all the local species and plants, and other local experts,” Hui said. “We, of course, examined the physical site, but by getting the input from the local experts, we could respect the area and make sure we are building the right way.”
Bracing for disaster
That includes thinking about designing for a landscape that has been shaped for centuries by earthquakes, wind, storms, and seawater. The area’s new pathways will have specially designed cracks to support passive drainage and protective buffers to help manage Mother Nature.
“We talked a lot about earthquakes,” Hui said. “And then talked about how to design for local weather limitations. For example, this area has a long season each year of high winds from the northeast. That needed to be incorporated into our design.”
Maas describes the resulting design concept, which has received approval from the city government to move forward, as one where the built elements feel like “natural extensions of the site, rather than foreign objects.”
“Our goal was never to impose architecture on the landscape, but to let it emerge from the natural conditions, to break the monotony of the straight line,” he said, “and to emphasize that Nature Rocks!”
MVRDV