Public Works Department, Taipei City Government

On September 30, 2021, Taipei City Government held the Taipei City Outstanding Public Works Awards award ceremony. The New Construction Office of the Public Works Department of Taipei City Government stood out from the crowd and won the “2021 Taipei City Outstanding Public Works Awards” in the Civil Engineering Category and Architectural Engineering Category for 7 projects, including “Taipei City Zhongxiao East Road and Other East-west Axis Sections and Surrounding Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project (First Tender),” “Taipei City Zhongxiao East Road and Other East-west Axis Sections and Surrounding Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project (Third Tender),” “Fuhe Bridge South Sidewalk Widening and Bicycle Wheel Ramp Project,” “2019 Taipei City Bridge and Culvert Beautification and Steel Frame Paint Maintenance Project by Open Contract (First Tender) (Shilin, Beitou, Zhongshan, Datong District),” “2019 Damage Repair Project by Open Contract (First Tender) (Shilin, Beitou, Zhongshan, Datong),” “Taipei Performing Arts Center Continuation Project (Second Tender)” and “Taipei City Datong District Yanping Elementary School Overall Reconstruction Project.”
 
“Taipei City Zhongxiao East Road and Other East-west Axis Sections and Surrounding Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project” – The Taipei City Government makes Zhongxiao East Road a representation for the vision of the “sustainable and livable” Taipei City and an example of people-oriented roads by combining the ideas of “sponge city” and “smart city.” The project aims to integrate the entrances of MRT, parking spaces, sidewalks and bus waiting areas by focusing on 3 major goals—“people-oriented roads for vehicles and pedestrians,” “resilient roads for a friendly environment,” “smart roads based on people’s needs.” The project is carried out in a sustainable way, creating a resilient road environment with permeable paving surfaces.
  
“Fuhe Bridge South Sidewalk Widening and Bicycle Wheel Ramp Project” – As more and more people ride a bike over the years, the south side sidewalk of Fuhe Bridge didn’t meet the standard of width that is wide enough for cyclists and pedestrians to share it. Therefore, the project aims to widen the sidewalk and the trestle bridge for bicycles, spanning the Xindian River to Gongguan, allowing cyclists not to fight for space with scooter riders and have a wider range and safer driving environment. In addition, 90% of building materials for the construction are light-gauge steels and green building materials like wood-plastic composites, reducing the weight of the sidewalk and greatly reducing the use of concrete to conserve energy and reduce carbon emission effectively for environmental protection. As for the pavements, stainless steel fasteners are used on both sides of the wood-plastic composites to avoid cracks due to the tensile strength limit of wood-plastic composites and maintain the overall surface of the wood-plastic pavements pavement to compensate for thermal expansion and contraction. No screw is used on the surface of the wood-plastic pavements for beautification purposes and the safety of cyclists and pedestrians.
  
“2019 Taipei City Bridge and Culvert Beautification and Steel Frame Paint Maintenance Project by Open Contract (First Tender) (Shilin, Beitou, Zhongshan, Datong District)” – In recent years, hazardous substances of exhaust gases from vehicles in the city attached on steel frame paint has caused dirt and rust on the surface, which reduces the service life of steel bridges. The bridge paint maintenance project aims to highlight the image of Taipei City with natural ecosystems by using paints with good weather resistance, strong corrosion-resistance and good dirt pickup resistance, and select colors that are in “harmony” and “connection” with the surrounding environment and landscape. During the construction, the Office has coordinated and communicated with relevant units and residents in advance based on the characteristics of the construction area. Different construction periods and methods are planned in consideration of different situations to overcome topographic constraints and prevent pollution so as to minimize the impact on the ecological environment and traffic.
 
“2019 Damage Repair Project by Open Contract (First Tender) (Shilin, Beitou, Zhongshan, Datong)” – Bailaka Road is a thoroughfare between Yangjin Highway in Beitou District and Tamsui District of New Taipei City. At the beginning of December 2019, road interruption occurred due to rockslides on upper slopes induced by days of rainfall. The New Construction Office immediately sent machines and tools to make urgent repairs. The urgent repair was really difficult as it was a larger-scale collapse and that rockslides occurred on both the upper and lower slopes. By working relentlessly and overcoming difficulties in adverse circumstances such as high altitude, steep slope, low temperature, high wind speed, dense fog, long transportation distance, etc., the contractors accomplished seemingly impossible tasks, and the road has been reopened ahead of schedule on January 22, 2020, just before the Lunar New Year. The follow-up works on lower slopes aim to repair the hiking trails and old drainage facilities and restore the ecosystem to its original condition.
 
“Taipei Performing Arts Center Continuation Project (Second Tender)” – Located at one of the art attractions in Taipei City, Taipei Performing Arts Center has been named by CNN as one of the eight most anticipated and transformative buildings and received the comment “Taipei Performing Arts Center—with its striking architecture, defined by a giant silver sphere protruding from one side of the building—seems set to become a city landmark of this full of culture and quiet city,” which contributes to Taipei City being selected by Time Magazine as one of the 100 World’s Greatest Places 2021. The Taipei Performing Arts Center is the only proscenium playhouse with a spherical shape in the world. Three theaters from different directions are embedded within the central large-scale cube. Each theater can operate independently or combine into a super big theater with 2,300 seats if needed, which inspires the creativity of theater artists and becomes an unprecedented undertaking in architecture and theater design.

“Taipei City Datong District Yanping Elementary School Overall Reconstruction Project” – Located at Changji Street, Datong District, Taipei City, Yanping Elementary School has a history of more than 80 years. As the buildings in the schools were old and the building structure might not be safe, under the cooperation and coordination with the Department of Education and Department of Transportation of Taipei City Government and due consideration by architects, the school authorities took care of student’s resettlement before the reconstruction was carried out. The project was completed ahead of schedule in 2021, and teachers and students are now back to the school with joy. Based on the concept “urban window,” the architects make use of simple geometric shapes and the balance of vertical and horizontal structure to present an enframed scenery, along with rich shadows and patterns on the facade, to create a new and vibrant urban landscape. By keeping a variety of trees at the original place, opening the campus to the public and sharing green resources with people in the neighborhood, it makes teaching closer to the ecology and allows local residents to feel the refreshment and vitality of the campus. The contractors take the initiative to adopt building information modeling (BIM) and other technologies to complete relevant evaluation on the construction process and interface, which prevents confusion on shop drawing and thus increases construction efficiency to ensure the quality and complete the construction ahead of schedule.