Page 140 - 臺北心綠動封面封底封側封折(無出血)_Float

Taipei

Greening UP ark

Japanese Architectural Remains

Hidden in Ximending
Cross-offices historical memory resurrection - Nishi Honganji Square
Location: Wanhua District / Area: 8,974 square meters
Award-winning project: 2015 FIABCI-Taiwan Real Estate Excellence Awards
/ 2016 China Architecture Golden Stone Award / 2017 FIABCI World Prix
d’Excellence Awards

The "Nishi Honganji Temple", with the same name as the "Nishi Honganji"
in Kyoto, Japan, is the "Wanhua 406 Plaza" at the intersection of Zhonghua
Road and Changsha Street, the southern edge of Ximending. It was originally
a Japanese Buddhist temple built in the Japanese occupation period as a temple
that comforts the Japanese soldiers and promotes the Dharma. It was once the
largest Japanese Buddhist temple in Taiwan. After the war, the site had been
used as the military and Taiwan Garrison Command or a prison for holding
prisoners. It had gone through many times changes of the ownership since and
eventually became a large compound living spaces for the resettlement of the
families of the military.

Most of the remains were hit by fire in 1975 and almost completely destroyed.
It was not until 2005 when the government carried out a demolition of the
illegal buildings on the ground where the "Wanhua No. 406 Park" is reserved
for, only to discover the vicissitudes of this site. In the following year, the Taipei
City Government designated the remaining bell tower and the Shuxin Hall as
the municipal level monuments. The remaining of the “Rinbansyo”, “Sando”,
“Hondou” and Royal temple, some remaining sites as the historical buildings.
In 2011, they were refurbished by the Taipei City Government Public Works
Bureau.

After the opening to the public in 2013, this group of buildings with the
characteristics of “Hybrid of western and Japanese” was able to be seen again.
It went well with the greenery landscape, transformed into an exotic stop with
the atmosphere that feels like traveling in Japan. In addition to extending and
expanding the Ximending tourist circle, a new urban square with historical
meanings was created by the Taipei City Archives. This committee designed the
revival community art by the same way the Shuxin Hall was utilized to retrieve
the forgotten historical memory of Taipei.

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