Friendly land usage, delighted agricultural mentality, international architects gathered in the capital of agriculture to jumpstart the spirit.
"We developed Yunlin Agriculture Expo not only to save a waste land, but also to return its originality and further the establishment of an agricultural art center." The Agriculture Expo Park can process 18,000 tons of polluted water daily, produce 3,000 tons of clean water, create an eco-friendly environment, and bring life to the land.”
Opening this December 25th, Yunlin Agriculture Expo is going to transform a wasteland into an enormous ecology park. Polluted water then becoming purified living water irrigated into ponds, is a message to deliver the idea on land usage and agricultural spirit.
Mingyuan, Gan and Luzhi, Li
The Agriculture Expo Ecology Project Architect
The Yunlin Agriculture Expo includes 6 major exhibitions: Wonderland of Agriculture, Food Adventure, Happy Ranch, Agriculture Fashion Platform, Fight for What You Want, and Carbon Sink Forest Station. The fundamental concept presents a new healthy agricultural awareness, of which Gan and Li, the Expo architects lead the project with high responsibility.
During the Japanese colonization, the 17.8 hectare wasteland used to be a Navy base, thereafter the war, it became a cane field. The land remained basic, sandy, and was less organic than average in Taiwan, which sank due to the lack of water.
Now the wasteland is completely remade. It has been the center of Yunlin plateau, the system of fresh air, the green of recycling. Because of the success in ecological renovation, the water came clean, and flies and weeds were diminished. On the contrary, dragonfly, butterfly, and bird began to thrive in the canopy, formed by gorgeous camphor trees, berry trees, and bamboos. Using bamboos as materials for example is natural-made "In", as opposed to concrete and tar as man-made "Out." Indeed, Living in prospect.
Whats the secret in land fertilization and water purification? Douliu local residents and land advocates Gan and Li indicated, "There has been a water conservancy project in the north and south side of the park for two years, luring polluted water from rivers into reservoirs by using water purifying equipment, and eventually flew in Oxbow Lake. And thus, cleaned water appeared!"
Bare foot on the grass, agriculture capital county magistrate Chih-Feng Su said proudly, "At The Expo Park, we adopted an inhabited operation to restore a friendly green environment in return to mother nature, the most carbon-free and original earth. Even after the Expo event, the Park will be continued under maintenance and will definitely remain as the center of Taiwanese agriculture and art.
Guocang Liu: Yunlin Agriculture Expo will offer Yunlin residents and Taiwanese with vision for the future
Yunlin is the capital of agriculture. Architect Guocang Liu designed Creative Paradise located in the center point of the Agriculture Expo park, which a duplicate version of the presidential house is built. In the park, a group of farmers were wearing bamboo hats and carrying iron shovels. It symbolizes the spirit in their hands.
Creative Paradise comes with many brilliant designs and surprises. Guocang Liu indicated the 3 main parts of the plan, "The first step is to let everyone, including elderly and young visitors to understand more about the rural life in the exhibition of traditional courtyard houses. Second, showing the huge 3D model of presidential palace to hope younger farmers will return and contribute to their hometown. At the end of the agricultural development, Yunlin welcomes everyone to be a farmer and become part of them."
In the countryside, famers were relying on trackers, also known as “the iron bulls.” Despite of the look and simplicity of trackers, they are efficient and helpful. Guocang’s various tracker theme conveyed the spirit of agricultural. It showed the difficult time of agricultural famers, but they had tried and built their own machines. It was showing that we can overcome obstacles if we put in effort and time.
The combination of trackers and Creative Paradise is edutainment. It provides a connection between visitors and famers. If any aspect of the Expo has inspired you, Yunlin welcomes you to join us and become a member for the future.
Qiu Wenjie: The Expo speaks for the capital of agriculture Yunlin. The world is extraordinary and being normal is belongs to that extraordinary.
Architect of Children Seeds Park
The Children Seeds Park in Douliu City was opened on the June of 2010.The milky color roof of the building is like cloud’s pamukkale, and the steeple of the snow-capped mountains. The circular walls and rounded shape windows are look like submarine cabin, and big eyeballs of ET. People feel amazed and fascinated by the building on their first sight.
Children Seeds Park is the first park in Taiwan that has the combination of landscape design with outdoor playhouse and the game space formed by circles of pipes. The brightness of the dome up on the roof makes children feel like they are walking into Science Fiction Theater when they look up at the sky. They can imagine themselves as taking an interstellar war ship going into another world.
Yunlin looks like a destitute place, but it is a fertilized land, which leads to the theme of the park sowing seeds in children’s dreams. The main goal of the park is to let every local child to enjoy various beautiful design and have enjoyful memories when they grow up. In the park, the piles of seeds convey the strength in number.
The architect, Wenjie Qiu, indicated that Children Seeds Park is not one of the traditional design works. He hopes that the changes of three-dimensional design in the park can wake childlike innocence. Even though the park is not for non-profit, it can be a strong image. Therefore, the Children Seeds Park can attract everyone’s attention.
"Yunlin does not need sympathy nor sorrow, but strength, the power to decrease negative energy." Actively improve the quality of life, and Yunlin will raise its popularity and reputation. the Agriculture Expo is leading a terrific starting point.
Junpei Guo, Architect of Caoling Elementary School, Gukeng Township
Generally speaking, entire Yunlin County can be a part of the Expo park. Although the Caoling Elementary School, which locates in Gukeng Township, is not physically a part of Agriculture Expo, it becomes an Agriculture Expo highlighted site because of its newly built environmental friendly teaching building, which echoes the core values and spirit of Agriculture Expo.
In September of 2008, due to the damage caused by Typhoon Sinlaku, teachers and students from Caoling Elementary Schools have to move to Dongnan College. At the end of the year, Junpei Guo, the architect started to reconstruct the schools with his new design. He is good at incorporating color and nature to create a learning environment.
Junpei indicates that schools are the places where students can learn different things, and here they dont evaluate a student just by their score and behavior, instead the students are encouraged to explore and pursuit their specialty. For example, he put an observatory in the school, so that the students can look around the surroundings and get to familiarize their hometown. As long as the students can adapt and recognize the land, they wont necessarily want to move out in search of jobs. Whether they are planting coffee, working in cultural and creative industry or reinforcing traditional agriculture, as long as they have the concept of localizing in their mind, they will find the values, opportunities and their ways in agriculture capital, Yunlin.
Agriculture Sustainability, The Key to Happy Future
Like the earth is our mother, Chih-feng Su, the magistrate of Yunlin County is the foudning mother of Agriculture Expo. The Agriculture Expo is a life project which focuses on Yunlins development sustainability as it has the largest agriculture industry size in Taiwan. Chih-feng worked with top architects on Agriculture Expo. From purifying the water around Agriculture Expo to returning the land to its original, farmers harvest and students learn one generation after another in Yunlin. Now, its time to start our new journey!